I Landed in Kuroshitsuji
by angelslaugh
Summary: Watching Kuroshitsuji is Nina Deathlight's and Rema Havens' favorite pastime, but when they end up in Kuroshitsuji, alone and amnesiac, what will become of them? Slight fandom fusion, not focused on the many fandoms, mostly just VK and Kuroshitsuji. NOT FULLY EDITED. Ch 1-18 edited and up. Sebastian/OC, Grell/OC
1. Prologue: Nina and Rema's Pasts

I ran to catch up with one of my oldest friends, Rema Havens.

"Rema!" I called, gaining the attention of said girl. I skidded to a halt next to her, my messenger bag hitting me on the side.

"Woah, slow down, _shin'ainaru-kun e_," Rema said, laughing a little. I gave her a small glare.

"I am not your 'my dear'!" I said hotly.

Rema raised an eyebrow. "Nope, your _watashi no chīsana kawaī_."

"I am not your 'my little dear'! I'm not little!"

Rema laughed at my misfortune.

"Okay, okay! Fine," she relented. She was constantly teasing me about my shortness, whereas she was tall. I thought that she was a little mean for that, but she was only teasing...most of the time.

"So, we still on for the party tonight at your house? Will your parents be home?" I asked, hoping that the party was still on. It was a costume party, anime-themed.

"Duh! My parents won't be home for another two weeks!" Rema laughed. "'Sides, you promised me that you come a year ago. This is our year, Nina!"

I shot her a tiny glare. "I know, Rema." I lifted my bag higher on my shoulder. It was filled with all the crap I had gotten this year. I was supremely glad I'd taken AP courses with the addition of afterschool activities that upped my credits for the next year. I could graduate _now_ if I held the desire to.

I didn't. I still had to help Rema with her low-as-crap grades. She had a C average, but that was probably because her parents were always elsewhere and she had to take care of her half-siblings Archer and Robyn. She and I poked fun at each other using our grades as ammunition.

"Any chores you might have to do?" Rema asked, hitching her own messenger bag higher.

"My mom was talking to my dad about making me clean out the sixth floor," I said gloomily. "But Dad said that I could come to this party if there were no chores listed for today."

"Okay," Rema said. "What if you took the list off of your door-"

"I can't, Rema, I might have to work," I said, cutting her off. "You know what happens when I don't do the chores, or even take the list off. I'll get in huge trouble and be working all summer." Rema lookd troubled. Then she smirked. I nearly groaned. Rema had terrible ideas. "What?" I asked irritably.

"Dad said he's workng on a case for you." I stopped walking.

"What?" I asked, my heart hammering.

Rema nodded. "Yeah. He said he's been working on it for a couple years. You do know that this is America, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, child abuse is illegal." I sighed. "And, while you could be picked up by CPS, I highly doubt that they'd even try to considering you are the wealthy heir to the Deathlight fortune." I nodded. That was true. "So they'd agree with my dad-you should be in a nice, caring home with a girl your age and has been your friend for nearly eleven years."

I'd actually forgotten I was going to turn sixteen in December (still a ways away, but hey).

We exited the school and saw our resident Japanese exchange student. Akari Hikari, also known as Akari-chan.

"_Kon'nichiwa, Akari-chan_," we greeted.

"_Kon'nichiwa, Nīna. Dono yō ni anata no yūjin wa, kyō nodesu ka?_" Akari never, ever, EVER said hello to Rema. She'd just ask, 'how is your friend today?' and watch as Rema got angry and spoke to her in rapid-fire French, always complaining on how Akari never addressed her directly.

"_Pourquoi ne peut jamais répondre Akari moi? Ce est comme si elle flippe allergique à moi!_" (Why can't Akari ever address me? It's like she's freaking allergic to me!) I'd respond to her in French, and then she'd address Akari in Japanese, who then would address me in English. It was confusing for some people, but not us three. Akari was a big part in our small group of three.

"_Oui, Rema, elle est définitivement allergique à vous. Même moi, je suis parfois. Ne le prenez pas personnellement._" (Yes, Rema, she's definitely allergic to you. Even I am sometimes. Don't take it personally.) Rema glared at me, then turned to Akari.

"_Anata wa watashi ga hito to shinai tan'ni `nīna no yūjin' to shite wa suki ni taisho shite kudasai koto wa dekimasu ka?"_ (Can you please address me like a person and not simply as 'Nina's friend'?)

Akari turned to me. "Please tell your friend I am not her friend and am your friend alone?"

Rema sighed. "Never mind. Akari, are you coming to my party or what?"

"Party?" Akari squealed. Just like that, Akari was Rema's BFF.

"Yes, a party. Anime-themed, wear a costume. Tonight at seven," she instructed.

Akari's smile dimmed.

"I have to go back to Japan tomorrow, so I won't be able to make it," she said regretfully.

Rema sighed.

"Guess it's just you and me then, Nina."

"And Robyn and Archer," I reminded her.

We walked away, Akari following us at a distance as she liked to walk and read American trashy romance novels that were full of steamy scenes that would probably scar that girl's mind for eternity when going to her host parents' house.

Rema shrugged as we continued walking. "Eh. It doesn't matter. They'll probably just watch Rated R movies on Netflix."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Are you kidding me? Nina, they love Rated R crap. They've been to Universal Studios, remember?"

"Yeah, but even so-"

"They don't think it's scary when they watch the movies, Nina. Don't worry," Rema chuckled.

I sighed. "Fine." We reached my street. I can honestly say I hate my six-story house. It seems like we're _too_ rich when you can see the top of the house over the tips of the trees.

"Later, Nina!" Rema called, followed closely by a "_Sayōnara nīna!"_ from Akari.

I waved to them, then reluctantly went to my house...and did a mini dance when I saw that my parents weren't home. I stopped when I saw my neighbor Leslie looking at me with a raised brow.

I chuckled nervously and let myself in...only to see Aaron and Aayla Secura (yes, AAYLA SECURA) sitting at my table and drinking tea, flipping through tattoo designs.

These two aren't two who I would call 'nice'. Well, they are, but they are tough, ex-gang members who knew how kill quickly and efficiently. They were twins, eighteen, and had a myriad of tattoos all over their bodies. Both of them had gotten a life sentence in prison when they were seventeen, but they were set on the straight path after a mysterious girl named Willow got them out of jail. Their records were erased and they got a modest income by working in a tattoo parlor.

I worked with them, cataloguing the inks and tattoos by color and number.

I got a 'modest' pay, depending on how well I did. I had a feeling the money was stolen, but I was saving up so I didn't complain.

"Aaron," I said, making the sisters look up. "Aayla. What are you doing in my house, drinking tea?"

"Well, your parents let us in," Aaron said, shrugging. "We came to talk to you."

"What about?" I asked, praying that they weren't dropping me.

"Well," Aaron said, shrugging. "We wanted to talk to you about learning how to ink sombody."

"Not old enough, but I'd like to," I responded immediately.

Aaron looked thoughtful. "Well...we aren't going to teach you, kid."

"Your two years older than me," I pointed out.

"Yeah, and you are our friend," Aaron said. "You are going to a great college, kid. I wouldn't advise learning inking."

She was trying to warn me away...what the Hel?

"Aaron," Aayla said, putting a hand on her sister's. "We should just tell her."

Aaron sighed. "Fine. Our old gang is in town, and we advise you to not come to the parlor or leave after dark. We came to give you a tattoo in case you do get caught."

I bit my lip, thinking.

"Rema and your friend Akari already have the tattoos. If they are harmed in any way, it would mean...well, you don't want to know," Aaron said darkly.

I shivered. "Fine. But I do have to be at Rema's tonight," I said fiercely.

Aaron grinned, obviously happy that I agreed.

"Oh, well. We can make do. Just make sure you don't apply too much pressure on your tat, ok?" Aaron said. I nodded and she said, "Take off your shirt."

I did so. There was nothing sexual about this, it probably just made a lot more sense to place it on my back with my other tattoos.

~:~

~Rema~

I got ready for Nina's arrival, hoping she wouldn't be too angry at me. She and I told each other practically everything, but the tattoo? Aaron had told me expressly that I wasn't to tell her because it could put her in danger.

I had my costume for Grell on. I personally liked Grell, probably because he was a psycho...and he was supremely feminine. It was POSSIBLE, but I wasn't too sure.

Nina didn't know I was attracted to both sexes. I was never really attracted to her because I knew it would ruin our friendship. So...yeah.

Anyway...I saw Nina on her bike and darted to unlock the front door...and instantly gulped.

A thickly muscled guy stood in front of my front door menacingly, glaring down at me.

He had a knife with him, and I paled drastically even before he raised it.

~:~

~Nina~

I crashed my bike into the muscley bike and had my silver knives ready, scared.

I prayed desperately he wouldn't kill Rema, but when I got a good look at her, I cried out in shock and rushed to her, forgetting about the muscled guy. Taking off the overcoat I was wearing so I could cosplay Sebastian, I pressed it against her wound.

I don't know what happened, but I blacked out shortly after I did that.


	2. Meeting Lord Phantomhive

I blinked myself awake.

Where was I?

I seemed to have amnesia. I only knew my name-Nina-and a friend's name. Rema.

This sounds _so_ much like a Percy Jackson book...

I blinked, wondering where the last thought had come from. The Hel?

I shook my head and massaged my tempes.

"Miss," a voice said, making my head jerk up. A man with glasses and a pair of _pruning shears_ approached my seat.

"Uh...yes?" I squeaked.

"Someone is scheduled to die today, so I'd rather you not be implicated in his demise."

I had a thoughtful look.

"Are you a shinigami?"

He blinked.

"I am a Reaper. Not a death god."

"Aren't they the same thing?" I wondered aloud.

The reaper looked frustrated. "No."

"If you say so, Reaper Guy. Well, I should be taking my leave..." I trailed off as I saw bunches of people with glasses like the man's in front of me collect...video.

I shook myself out of the small trance I'd fallen into and smiled a little uneasily at the guy.

"I really should leave," I said, smiling at him so hard my cheeks hurt. I probably looked like an idiot.

I took my dress skirts-why did they have to be so damn long?-and hurried down the street.

Somewhere down the road, my eye caught the date-and the place-I was currently at.

I was in England. In the freaking 1800s.

I hate my life. I had amnesia, I'm in a whole 'nother country across the sea-

So I was an American?

The information seemed to stop. With an angry sigh, I turned into a random alley and happened upon a guy wielding a chainsaw.

"Wrong alley," I muttered, scared of the chainsaw wielder.

I backed out, then walked another few feet to the next alley.

I entered it and sat down, not paying attention to the filthy looks-nor the leery ones-I recieved.

I just sat there, reeling from the information overload. When I was done, I stood up, very calmly and headed to the nearest dress shop and bought a nice red dress. It actually covered my body, so I was quite pleased.

I walked down the street, seeing an odd amount of people. Then I bumped into someone and immediately apologized.

"I'm so, so sorry! I should have been watching where I was going! I'm so sorry!" I said in a rushed sentence.

"It's fine," a yellow-haired boy with blue eyes said. His tongue peaked out, showing a small part of a-

_Demon contract,_ a voice in my mind seemed to whisper.

"I should go," I whispered, meeting the tall man's-who was behind the boy-eyes for a fraction of a second. His golden eyes widened when his eyes met mine.

I pushed past them, making it about fifteen steps when I collided with another boy.

"Watch it!" the boy snapped, glaring at me.

I glared right back.

"Well, I'm sorry for being lost!" I snapped, then blinked and bowed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap!"

I was doing all sorts of things wrong. I felt wretched and decided to yet again run.

When I stopped, I was near another alley and I slipped into it, not bothering to check if anyone was following me, which was a mistake.

"Miss," a smooth voice said, making me pop my head out.

"What?" I asked in a small voice. "What could you possibly want from me?"

"Is your name Nina Deathlight?"

I gazed at the man's crimson eyes.

"And if it is?" I growled.

His eyes suddenly burned.

"Sleep," he said, and dizziness crashed around me, making the world turn black.

~:~

I awoke on something soft. A bed, then. Not sitting upright on a park bench.

I had also been changed. I instantly felt a boiling rage; how dare they change me!

A girl entered.

"Oh, miss, you're awake, you are!" I gulped. (Was this girl some psycho?) "Master wants to see you, yes he does!"

"Who's the master of this household?" I asked politely.

"Lord Phantomhive is, miss."

"Who changed me?" I asked, grateful she was forthcoming with information.

"Sebastian did, yes he did. Come, Master Phantomhive wants to see you, yes he does!" With that, she tugged on my arm.

Rage simmered in me as the girl dragged me away.

"What's your name?" I asked her when she went to a stop. She smiled at me.

"Mey-Rin, miss. Here's the master's office." She knocked.

"Enter," a cool voice said, and I fidgeted nervously.

Mey-Rin opened the door for me. I entered cautiously. The Phantomhive lord sat there, his butler to the side.

"Ah, Miss Deathlight, I presume," the boy said in a well-cultured voice.

I nodded. "Yep, that's me!"

The lord looked at me critically. "You don't look like a princess."

"Perhaps I'm not," I shot back. A ghost of a smile was on the butler's face.

"Even so, I must alert the Queen that you have arrived here, Lady Deathlight-"

"Call me Nina," she interrupted.

"I am Ciel Phantomhive, and this is my butler, Sebastian Michaelis."

I looked upon the butler; he had the same aura-maybe even more malicious-then the other one I encountered.

"Demons seem to make the best butlers," I commented offhandedly. Ciel's eye widened in apparent shock, and Sebastian looked surprised. "Not that it's any of my business," I said, waving my hands in front of my face when Ciel's face hardened. "Plus, who'd believe me? Maybe that Reaper would, but I sincerely doubt I'll see him again..." I trailed off and laughed nervously at the looks...and then my own face hardened as I recalled a piece of information.

"Sebastian, please let our guest settle in. You shall take her tomorrow to get dresses," Ciel instructed. The demon bowed and moved over to me.

"Yes, my lord."

A loud slap resounded in the room, and I said, in an icy voice, "_That _is for changing me in my sleep, you ass." I then bowed and said, "Please forgive my slap; I was angry." I knew I was red.

The demon chuckled.

"No need to be frightened, my lady. My lord has bid you to stay, and I would advise doing so." His voice held an undercurrent of warning.

I gulped.

"Okay," I said in a small voice.

He took my arm and gently-he was surprisingly gentle for a demon- tugged me out of Ciel's office.

"I would advise you to sleep, my lady. A guest is coming." A chilly undertone was heard as he deposited me into his room.

I turned to him, already guessing what was about to happen.

"Don't worry, I won't listen to the screams." I shut the door as he just stood there, obviously in shock.

I managed to keep my hysterical laughter under control for about ten minutes, and then they made their appearance.

Soon after, I clamped my mouth shut and wondered about my friend.

_Rema...where are you?_


	3. Nerve Pinch and a Scar-Faced Blondie

~Rema

I woke up in a bush that was curiously shaped like a skull.

"Madam Red~" a sing-song voice said. "Look what I found~"

I blinked and saw a red-head with shark-like teeth smirking at me, a chainsaw in his hand.

"Are you a shinigami?" I asked, not caring that I was still in the bush.

"How'd you know?" the red-head asked, flipping his hair.

"You look like one," I said, quite calmly. "Miss."

That seemed to do it. He grinned and his eyes sparkled. "Aw~ you would be fun to hang around with~ Someone who finally notices my dashing beauty!"

I smiled at him.

Then a woman, dressed in red, appeared.

"We shouldn't let her live," she said, quite disdainfully.

I have to admit, I was more female-inclined. Perhaps that's why I flirted with both of them.

"Your beauty is that of the freshest rose," I said, standing up and kneeling to her, sparkles in my eyes as I did so. Both of them looked taken aback. "It is unimaginable, and uncomparable, to that of the warmest fire!" I gazed at her in faked rapt fascination. Perhaps she actually felt flattered, but she opened her mouth and I turned to the male/female.

"And you...your beauty shines through the cracks of this world. You are my sun!"

The woman smirked. "Looks like you have a fan, Grell," she said to said male.

Grell just kept staring at me in complete shock...and then he got a nosebleed as I frowned.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked. the woman shook her head.

"I'll let you stay here...for a price," she decided.

"Anything to stay in the presence of such wonderous creatures," I said, smiling brilliantly.

The woman smirked.

~:~

~Nina

I yawned, my sleep evading me.

"Lady Deathlight," Sebastian said, "My lord requires your presence in the drawing room."

I opened the door, my hair a rat's nest.

"Can you help me with my hair?" I asked him, showing him the brush...which had gotten stuck in my hair.

With a sigh, Sebastian took the brush and quickly brushed my hair. My dress, which I had chosen to not wear the corset with, covered my body and barely gave a hint to my breasts...which meant I was really, really flat-chested.

He escorted me to the drawing room, and when I had entered, there was shock.

I affected a mask, something that seemed natural to me.

"And who is this precious flower that looks like it has newly bloomed?" a Chinese-looking man asked.

"Lady Deathlight," Ciel acknowlegded, causing gasps to echo around the room. "Did you have trouble finding this room?"

I shook my head, politely. "None at all, Lord Phantomhive, thank you. Your hospitality is welcomed," I said, my voice cool.

Ciel gave a nod. "When can the rats be found?"

"When traps are set," an officer grumbled. "I'll have the payment ready soon."

"Have it ready tonight," I said, sitting in the only other available seat. "I'm certain the lord of Phantomhive can handle such a problem." Ciel gave me a covert look of surprise.

A scarred blondie hit one of the balls on the pool table.

"Do you wish to go, Lord Phantomhive?" asked another man, a fat, squat one.

"I'll pass." Ciel smirked as the scarred guy hit again.

Then he stood up.

"You can't be serious," the squat man bellowed. "You missed your turn and now aiming for then all?"

"Careful, boy," the officer guy said, warning in his tone. "Your greed will be yor undoing."

Ciel smirked again as he aimed and hit the balls.

All of them went in.

"Certainly Miss Deathlight would like to have her turn," the scarred man said, and I stood up and grabbed the pool stick.

A flash appeared in the corner of my eyes and I saw Rema standing there, smirking. I knew what she'd do, so I did it.

The blonde man howled in shock and pain.

"Oops," I said coldly, inwardly apologizing, "I hit the wrong balls."

Laughter broke out, and I looked up to meet Rema's shocked eyes.

~:~

"Nina, you crack me up," Rema howled in the drawing room as the light went on and the rest of the people scampered.

"I just did what I thought you would," I whispered, embarrassed.

"Yeah, and I wholeheartedly approve, _mon cher,_" she said, gazing deep into my eyes.

"Don't call me that...and why are you speaking in French?" I asked, tilting my head.

"You and I can both speak a number of languages, French among them." She looked toward the Chinese guy. "Try speaking Chinese."

"_Dàn wǒ bù zhīdào zěnme huí shì,_" (but I don't know how), I replied...then blinked when the Chinese guy's eyes opened to focus on me.

"Interesting...the Lady Deathlight honors me in my own tongue," he said, blowing a pipe.

I went red. Then I turned to Rema and switched languages.

"_Rema, est le français langue naturelle? Et comment puis-je vous connais?_" (Rema, is French your natural language? And just how do I know you?)

Rema shrugged. "I don't have an answer for that. All I know is that you're my _meilleur ami_, and that I have this sense we had an odd friendship."

"Oh," I said, disappointed. I'd hoped she'd know where we were from.

"I do get the feeling I haven't told you I'm attracted to females," Rema casually said,causing me to choke on my drink.

After I'd finally swallowed the crap, I glanced at her.

"is 'that' what our relationship is?" I squeaked, my voice unintentionally high.

"If that is your reaction, then I'm guessing not," she said dryly. I flushed.

"Lady Deathlight, Miss Havens-"

"MadamRedcanRemastaywithme?" I blurted, asking the woman for that. Madam Red looked puzzled, before a look of understanding came about her.

"I have other maids and butlers. Grell, would you be so kind as to stay and learn something from Sebastian? Miss Havens, here is your pay for the cleaning you did."

Madam Red extracted what looked like dollars out of her purse. Then she waved at her nephew.

"It was a delight having you," she purred, and Rema nodded.

"It was amazing to simply bask in your presence," Rema whispered.

"Bye-bye dear!" Madam Red said, waving good-bye to her nephew, who was exiting.

~:~

Ciel sighed as he shut the door in exhaustion.

Then it opened and Nina rushed out, her face looking like a tomato.

"What's wrong?" he asked the embarrassed-looking girl. She went even redder.

"N-nothing," she stuttered, then went a little redder when he heard Madam Red's maid's voice shout something.

"Perhaps it was the fact that Miss Havens toldyou she was more or less inclined to like girls more then men?" Offered Sebastian.

"Of course she would be, she'd a female," Ciel said, confused. He saw Nina's nose start to bleed as she and Sebastian just stared at him in stunned silence.

"You haven't...told him yet?" Nina asked Sebastian, who silently shook his head.

"Told me what?" Ciel demanded.

"Miss Havens prefers to have women in her bed then men," Sebastian said, and Nina groaned.

Then she turned to Ciel, who was STILL confused.

"She's interested in girls in a _sexual_ nature, Ciel."

Ciel stood still. His ghost came out of his body, but Nina just shoved it back in.

"...Oh," he said in a small voice. "Sebastian, please bring some tea and pie to my study."

"Yes, my lord," Sebastian said, bowing.

Nina walked alongside of him.

"I must say, Nina, I am impressed on how you handled Azzuro Vanel. I believe he is the one behind the stolen cheese." Ciel turned to see a confused-looking Nina staring at him. "Metaphorically."

"Oh...so he's a thief and a liar?" Nina questioned.

"He sells drugs," Ciel said bluntly. "Kind of like Lau, but Her Majesty allows him to do it simply because he is a necessary pawn of mine."

"Oh," Nina said, her green eyes clearing. "I understand. He's doing something illegal that Lau isn't."

"Indeed," Ciel nodded. "When the time comes that the Queen no longer needs a Guard Dog, the Phantomhive name shall cease to be." Nina didn't respond as he opened his study door. "And as such-"

He was cut off by something appearing over his mouth, knowing Nina was also being kidnapped.

~:~

~Nina

For the second time in two days, I woke up in a different place. The only difference was that I was tied with belts that squished my practically nonexistent breasts.

I silently mourned the fact that I was always going to be flat-chested.

Then I looked up.

Azzuro Vanel (or Scar-Faced Blondie, as I like to call him) stood there, smirking at me. It was then I saw Ciel, still not awake.

Then Vanel kneeled down and asked, "How old are you, _princess?"_

I let my lip poke out and widened my eyes.

"Sixteen," I said. I was totally lying. I'd be sixteen soon, but not yet.

"Ah, the perfect time." Before I knew what he was doing, he was pushing my dress down. I screamed, hoping someone would help me.

Then, Ciel spoke up.

"Despicable."

Vanel stopped, and I pushed away from him using my feet.

"Excuse me, brat?" Vanel laughed.

Ciel looked up at him. "You attempt to rape a sixteen-year-old princess of another country. Her mother would be fuming if she knew." Ciel's voice was perfectly reasonable. "It's despicable that you'd go that low."

"Is it?" asked Vanel. "You know, Lord Phantomhive, I've heard of you."

"Good," Ciel said.

The phone rang.

"What is it?" the irritated Italian man said. "What do you mean, you missed?" A creeping grin appeared on Ciel's face as he heard the conversation I could not.

Vanel went wide-eyed, his face fearful.

"Woof," Ciel said, and Vanel looked shocked, then scared. He slammed the phone down and ordered his men to keep watch over the mansion.

Vanel looked at us. "He better bring that key," he growled to Ciel.

Ciel's head tilted an an adorable smile came onto his face.

"Then your men better be good at fetch," he replied, grinning.

Vanel kicked Ciel, then kicked him again and again.

As he lowered the gun, I yelled, "Stop!"

Vanel fired, but I felt the pain, since it was me he'd actually aimed for. My shouting at him made his hand spasm, so it didn't end in my heart. Just my shoulder.

"Ow," I said, pain blasting through said arm under a minute.

Rema stormed in, Sebastian in front of her. Guns rang out and blood pounded through my veins.

Sebastian then got up after a few seconds, Rema darting to me. She looked down at me in concern, then Nerve Pinched me.

My last thought was, _I am going to get my payback, Rema. Nobody Nerve Pinches me._


	4. Coma

_"Is she going to be all right?" A worried voice asked._

_"For now, Miss Secura and Secura, I believe so. They both are currently stable, but seeing as they are physically fine, they could wake up at any moment. Physically and mentally, they're fine. Just...in a very deep sleep." Paper rustling sounded._

_"Don't sugarcoat this crap, you ass. Do you think they'll be okay or what?" A second deeper, yet still worried, voice asked._

_"I'm sorry, I don't have those answers. I'm doing the best I can. Thankfully, they aren't going to need life support for a while yet."_

_"Why are there guards posted at their door?" The second voice demanded._

_"Uh, I'm not allowed to-"_

_"Listen, Dr. Martin, I want to know. So you either tell me, or something very bad is going to happen," the deeper voice stated menacingly._

_"Fine! They are witnesses to a homicide. They might know who killed a man on Miss Havens' doorstep." A shuffling sound occured. "That's all I know, I swear!"_

_"If we find out you're lying, there'll be hell to pay," the first voice said in a dark tone._

I wanted to wake up. But my eyes wouldn't open.

_**Help.**_

~:~

"Is she going to be okay?" Rema asked anxiously, keeping an eye on her friend.

Madam Red, the doctor, gave Rema an exasperated look. "She might need a new uterus afterwards, but-"

"The uterus isn't in the arm," Rema said crossly.

"We found evidence of a knife wound," Madam Red said reluctantly. "I don't know what happened, but it punctured her uterus. It either can remain and she could die choking on her own blood, or her uterus can be removed and she lives a long and happy life."

"I'll give her mine," Rema offered.

Madam Red looked confused.

"Are you-"

"Same blood type, same birthday, same minute, same hour," Rema dryly responded. "Odd, I know, but who the hell cares?"

"Hmm, I can work with that. But why would you give your own uterus up?"

"Nina has a bright future ahead of her," Rema said, not knowing why she was saying it, but she did anyway. "She deserves much better than the hand Fate has dealt her."

Madam Red gave Rema a long, assessing look.

"Very well," she said at last. "I can do it, but I cannot guarantee her survival."

"I understand," Rema said readily.

"Let me finish this procedure, and then I shall see her in a couple weeks to assess any further damage and do the surgery at the same time."

Rema nodded, satisfied. Tears were in her eyes.

"Thank you," she practically wept. "Thank you so, so much."

Madam Red gave a small smile.

~:~

_"Medical emergency, room 222!" a voice yelled. _

_"What's happening?" the first voice I had heard said. _

_"It looks like Miss Deathlight's trying to wake up-but she can't! She's asphyxiating!"_

_"SHE'S CHOKING?! ON WHAT?!"_

_"Her own blood! I don't know how!"_

_**"Help."**_

My eyes flew open.

~:~

Rema was exhausted. She kept looking at the clock on the wall, watching it and wondering when Nina was going to wake up.

Two weeks. Two weeks, and then Nina would get Rema's uterus.

Oh, Rema was so screwed.

Nina's eyes flew open.


	5. Home

"Nina!" Rema was at my side in an instant. "Nina, how are you? Are you okay? What happened?"

"Chillax," I whispered, wondering where the word came from. It seemed to soothe Rema's ruffled feathers. "I'm fine, just…sore. And tired. When I fell asleep, I heard…voices." I looked at her. She was wide-eyed.

"You heard Madam Red's and my own voice?" Rema asked.

I shook my head. "No, but…they were familiar." I sat up and hissed in pain. I felt the pain coming from my abdomen.

"Nina, you shouldn't look at it," Rema said, stopping me from pulling my shirt up.

I gave her a glare. "Rema…don't baby me." She reluctantly allowed me to look at it.

A white bandage greeted me. I had a feeling it was because of something _other_ than the bullet wound, which had been crudely stitched up (or maybe it was just me. I could have come from the future…), and was on my _shoulder._

"Nina, I don't know what happened myself, but you won't be able to have kids," Rema said quite bluntly. She usually didn't sugarcoat things-perhaps that was why she was my best friend.

I felt hurt at that. I've always wanted kids-not so they could love me, but so I could love them. "Alright," I said sadly. "I understand.

Rema gave me a strange look. "You've always wanted kids. Why give up now?"

"I _can_ adopt, featherbrain," I said dryly. Rema blinked.

"I offered to give mine up-"

"No." I cut her off. "I'm not going to ask for you to do that. Whether or not I have kids isn't an issue-I _will_ have kids. Adopting children is probably difficult, but I'll do that." My mind was set. Perhaps it was in my best interests if I didn't have kids at this point in time. "Let's just go home."

Madam Red appeared. "Miss Havens, we're willing to do the switch now, if you prefer."

"No," I said, stopping her. Madam Red gave me a look that could only be described as _rageful._ "Like I told Rema, I can adopt kids. They're in need of a home more, and I am willing to give them that."

The look in Madam Red's eyes vanished. I know I'd seen it, though, and I vaguely wondered if Madam Red was eventually going to become a psychotic murderess. I almost laughed at the thought of Madam Red doing that, but something kept me back. Like…a memory.

"That is a very…naïve point of view, as almost every orphanage requires an extensive background check," Madam Red pointed out.

I gave her a sarcastic look. "Oh, yes, Madam Red. After I leave the hospital, bandaged from two surgeries, I plan on going to an orphanage and saying, 'Hello, I'm an amnesiac girl who everyone thinks of as a princess and I was wondering if I could take a few kids to Phantomhive manor where Sebastian might eat every one of them'? And then I'm going to cackle while feeding them to Sebastian."

Rema's eyebrows were high up on her forehead. She then facepalmed.

"Sorry, Madam Red, my sun that shines," she said, suddenly turning into a poet and holding Madam Red's hand. "My little buttercup only means she wouldn't to that quite yet, as she is but a delicate flower in the wind."

Madam Red blushed.

"Very well, then." She gave Rema a piece of paper and a fountain pen. "I suppose since she's drugged up with morphine it doesn't really do much harm."

"Yes," Rema smiled brilliantly at her. It was only then that I realized Rema had cut her hair. And was wearing a tucked-in shirt and shorts…or were they called trousers?

All in all…

"Rema…why are you cross-dressing?" I asked her as we left the hospital, Rema getting some dark looks. I just gave them a smile that probably looked loopy.

"I'm not, you twit. I prefer this to dresses," she responded. A carriage suddenly stopped next to us.

"May I help you ladies out?" a man asked, his blonde hair shining.

"Sure," Rema said, entering the carriage and banging my head against the doorway. "We do appreciate this, good sir."

"Where are you headed?" he questioned, and Rema smiled, a bit tiredly.

"Phantomhive manor, sir." The man looked positively delighted.

"I was just going there to deliver an invitation. You two ladies are welcome." He gave a heart-stopping smile.

"I hope you don't mind, good sir, but I am more feminine-inclined," Rema said smoothly. I envied her talent to be _that _smooth.

"I don't mind at all," he stated. "Is that why you are carrying your lovely little kitten?"

"She's drugged," Rema deadpanned. "She just got out of surgery."

"Interesting. I hear people rarely survive surgery." He leaned forward. "Who, pray tell, was the doctor?"

"Madam Red," I muttered. "She's _nutty._ Nutty…haha…" I was beginning to feel happy. Really happy.

"Really," the man said, and I saw Rema nod.

"Indeed. She's really, really, _really _drugged, so I apologize for her comments," Rema replied.

Things were quiet, but that could be because I was pretty much unconscious for the rest of the journey.

When we stopped at the gates to the manor, I became more conscious because Rema banged my head on the side of the door _again._

"Please give this to Master Ciel," the man said, holding out an invitation. "Three people may accompany him, and tell him if he cannot come, to perhaps send his precious sister." He waved and Rema bowed, me still in her arms.

"Good day, Viscount," she called.

"I don't like him," I slurred. "He's a _perv._"

"I know," Rema said, shuddering a little. "A really _big _perv. Let's go see Ciel. Perhaps he can shed some light on the Viscount."

~:~

Ciel watched from the window as Rema entered the manor, wondering what they were doing exiting an extremely over-elegant carriage.

"Would you like me to show them up here?" Sebastian asked, and Ciel nodded.

"Please do," he responded absently. He sipped his tea, too deep in thought to notice Sebastian's slightly shocked look.

~:~

Sebastian walked down and found Rema and Nina just standing in the entrance of the manor.

"Please shut up," Nina moaned.

"I'm not talking!" Rema protested quietly.

"Then what are the crickets talking about?" Nina asked, and Sebastian stopped and raised an eyebrow at Nina's figure.

Rema gave him a sheepish look.

"She had to be drugged. With morphine," she explained. "She's been in and out of it since we left the hospital."

"Ah," Sebastian replied. He looked at his pocket watch as he turned away from the two females. "Master Ciel will see you two now. I presume he will want to know why you two were in the Viscount Druitt's carriage."

At that name, Rema shuddered. "Ew. He's just nasty. Hey, Sebastian?" Sebastian looked at Rema.

"Yes?"

"Does Ciel have a sister?" she asked, and Sebastian blinked.

"I don't think so," he lied. He turned back to go to Ciel's study. "Let's not waste any more time, alright?" Rema followed him to Ciel's study.

~:~

"Why were you in-"

"A carriage that belonged to the Viscount Whatever?" Nina said, still slightly slurring, but she mostly seemed aware. Sebastian watched her carefully, making sure the dilation of her eyes was almost normal. "Rema decided to trust a stranger. He was coming here anyway, to give you a letter." Rema put the letter down. It was opened, and Ciel raised an eyebrow. Nina shrugged unapologetically. "Rema obviously wants to keep you alive or something."

Ciel looked toward Rema skeptically.

She smiled angelically.

"I'm nice like that. Plus, he didn't want to kill you, he wanted to invite you and your _precious_ sister." Ciel's face went blank.

Sebastian watched Nina frown in her teacup.

Nina elbowed Rema. "Will you be sensitive?" Smiling politely at Ciel, Nina gave him a way out. "Not that you have a sister. I'm sure he's just referring to the girly side of you."

Ciel went pink. "I do _not _have a girly side!"

"Nope, you sure don't," Nina said agreeably. Ciel frowned.

"Then why-"

"Young Master," Sebastian said, leaning down to speak in a whisper, "I believe Nina is giving you a way out of talking about Cecilia."

Nina smiled at Ciel. Sebastian narrowed his eyes a bit as he straightened up.

There was no way she'd heard that. Unless she wasn't human…


	6. Books, Claude, and Dresses

To pass the time the day before the ball-whenever it was, I didn't really check-, I had Rema come to London with me.

Seeing as I was drugged to high heaven last time I'd been here, I was shocked at how _crowded _the city was. Sebastian and Ciel had also come, unsurprisingly, to get supplies for the seasonal home they were headed to that day. It wouldn't take too long to get there, so that was why we were in the city.

I wandered away from Rema, heading to what looked like a bookshop and entering it, closing the parasol Rema had bought me.

"Welcome to my shop," the balding shopkeeper said. "Are you here for your own pleasure or your lord's?"

I hesitated, not wanting to indirectly offend the London nobility by saying 'my own'. "My lord's," I finally responded. He smiled.

"What kind of books is your lord looking for? The usual saucy novels?"

I glanced at him, puzzled. "The 'usual'? I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else." The bookkeeper looked shocked.

"My princess! I'm so glad you've returned!" He placed a parcel in front of me, and it had my name on it.

"Uh…"

"She's with us," a voice said. I turned to see the man with golden eyes looking at me, his golden eyes placid.

My eyes narrowed. I took the package and smiled tightly at the bookkeeper man, and then walked towards the other golden eyed one, tense.

He grabbed my arm gently and walked to a random aisle-where nobody was-and instantly had me pressed against the bookcase, a hand resting lightly on my throat.

"I should have known you were the Irish princess." He glared at me. I felt like I was shaking in my boots (literally).

"I don't see how, I didn't even know. I still don't think that I am," I responded, proud that I kept myself calm.

"Oh, you are," he whispered, his golden eyes narrowing. "You smell just like your sister."

I couldn't help but feel offended.

"Get your hands off of me," I said, my voice low. Startled, he blinked, and I took advantage of that and grabbed his hand and bent it back. It had to be discomforting, but it happened nonetheless. His face showed nothing. "Let's get one thing straight: I'm probably not a damned princess. So leave me alone and let me get the things I require for my lord Ciel." His eyes flickered when I mentioned Ciel's name. "Good day." I turned around and decided to ignore his staring.

Soon, I had gotten the books I wanted and had paid and left.

~:~

"Remind me why Grell and Madam Red are here?" I asked, sweatdropping as Grell (yet again) did something completely stupid.

"No idea. Let's not forget that Lau and the lady he's always had is here," Rema whispered back.

Then Sebastian said, to the room at large, "Miss Deathlight, here is the dress for the ball. Mey-Rin, please help her-"

"I'll help her, thank you," Rema rudely interrupted. I blushed and was dragged away by her.

"Rema!"

~:~

"OW! CAN YOU DE-TIGHTEN IT OR WHATEVER?! I CAN BARELY BREATHE, REMA!"

Rema had evil sparkles in her eyes. "Hahahaha!" she maniacally laughed as she tightened it even more.

"THAT'S IT!" I turned my darkest glare onto my friend. "Untighten. The. Corset. A little." Rema shivered and did so.

"Please don't go all 'evil lady' on me again," she pleaded.

I bowed and said, "Gomen'nasai." (Sorry)

Rema smiled and said, "Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita. Watashi wa, nīna no anata o aishite kudasai." (Thank you very much. I do love you, Nina.)

I smiled at her. "Watashi mo anata o aishitemasu." (I love you too)

We were obviously closer than siblings- it seemed natural to say 'I love you' and not mean it like couples did.

As soon as Rema was done, I exited the room and re-entered the drawing room. Madam Red, Lau, and Ran-Mao (I think was her name) all stopped to stare.

"So…" Madam Red said. I wore a dark red dress the color of blood, and it seemed to make me look a little older and mature, yet cute and young at the same time. "So cute!" she yelled, and Grell's jaw was dropped as he looked at me. I hid behind Rema.

"This is kind of creepy," I told her. Rema nodded and had to physically knock out Grell as he got too close.

"As much as I like you, nobody here is touching my onii-chan," Rema said, cracking her knuckles.

The door opened behind me and I heard Ciel say, "What on earth is going-"

He was cut off by my hugging him.

"CIEL! YOU'VE ARRIVED! I THINK THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!" I yelled, relieved.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Ciel snapped.

Rema had me pinned behind her and in front of the wall while I was thinking that everyone was seriously overreacting. It was _just a dress, _but Sebastian looked fit to kill.

"Shouldn't Ciel be in his dress?" Rema questioned. If looks could kill, Rema would've been dead seven times over.

That didn't exactly stop her from sniggering at the thought of Ciel in a dress.


	7. The Viscount's Ball

"Want to play chess whilst we wait for Ciel to get ready?" Madam Red asked, gazing at me.

I nodded. "I must admit, I am a terrible chess player…I think," I added.

Madam Red waved that away. "I am not that good myself. Ciel is the best player I know."

The chessboard was set up rather quickly.

"Tell me, what do you know of chess, Miss Deathlight?"

"White goes first," I said. "Pawns-on their first move-can go up two spaces. A horse can only go in an 'L' shape and can move five spaces, and a bishop can only move diagonally on the color of their current square…and when you checkmate the king, there are no possible spaces left to go for said king," I finished.

Madam Red nodded, smiling. "Impressive. Care to start?"

I looked down and saw I was black.

"That's against the rules," I said, looking up at her. "I prefer a nice, clean game of chess. I don't like to cheat."

I must have surprised her.

"Miss Deathlight, do you understand the rules of life, then?"

I frowned. "Nobody does. We have to figure them out ourselves."

Madam Red hummed and moved one of her pawns two spaces up. I did the same-on the opposite side of the board.

Rema offered me no advice, just watched silently.

I didn't plan my moves for ages like my opponent did, I just mindlessly moved my chess pieces across the board and waited for her moves.

"Hm, are you certain you've never done this before?" Madam Red questioned.

"Like I said, I can't exactly remember," I answered. Rema looked impressed…and then I was checked. I bit my lip, and used my queen-checkmate to Madam Red.

She looked at me suspiciously. "I think you underestimate yourself," she replied. I looked down at the board. I had checkmated her.

"Nice job," Ciel said approvingly, making me shriek and jump out of my seat in shock.

"Ciel," Rema said, becoming 'Mother Hen'. "It's not nice to scare people."

Ciel gave her a flat look. "Whoever said I was nice?"

"Don't be mean," I said…and actually got a good look at the younger boy.

Rema and I just stared at him for several seconds.

"Totemo kawaī!" We shrieked, hugging Ciel(a). Ciel sputtered for a few seconds.

"Please get off of me!" he called.

~:~

"The most probable one on the list is the Viscount Druitt. He has the most medical training and is linked to a number of disreputable types," Ciel explained as they were driven to the ball. Rema sat with Sebastian, pretending to be the other butler.

I, Madam Red, Lau and his girl, and Ciel were all able to enter with Sebastian and Rema, Ciel having me pretend that Ran-Mao and Rema were there to help me, Sebastian being there because he was, after all, a lord's butler.

"What if it's not him?" I hissed at Ciel as we swept inside, nobody paying much attention to Ran-Mao, Rema, or Sebastian (or even Lau).

"Then we made a mistake," Ciel hissed back. He nodded politely at others.

Rema glared at anyone who dared come near me, a headband on her head to hide the fact that she was actually female.

"Shall we dance?" Sebastian asked Ciel. Ciel hissed something about it being 'improper', but Sebastian said it was okay for instructors to dance with their peers at societal functions like this.

Rema also asked me to dance. I went fire-red.

Then the Viscount came.

"Ah, you made it. Little kitten, sparrow," he said, presenting a flower.

I smiled at him politely.

"I apologize, Lord Druitt, for the problem I was whilst we were in your vicinity. I had major surgery done, and, as you can see, Miss Havenliss" I could already feel the weight of the glare Rema was giving me. Apparently, she hated my made-up-on-the-spot last name for her. "-is my attendant for the night."

"Ah," he said, smiling. "I wish to show you two beauties something, if you would not mind."

"Of course not," Rema said quite politely. "We are here as your guests, Lord Druitt."

He laughed. Seriously, who would fall for creeps like these?!

~:~

Sebastian kept a close eye of Nina and her friend. Whatever the two were, it was clear that they'd formed a close bond.

He growled protectively when he saw the Viscount edging closer to her where she was dancing a little clumsily with Rema, beet red.

When the Viscount spoke to them, Rema's face went cool and calm. Nina smiled politely and inclined her head.

Sebastian imagined a thousand painful deaths for the Viscount. All of them where he was smiling politely.

After he'd imagined those thousand different scenarios, he watched the two being led away and fought the urge to go after them. He was a demon, after all, and he had to act as one might expect.

He still wanted the Viscount dead.

"Sebastian," Ciel said after they'd spun to a stop, "after we catch this murderer and this case is solved, I would like to look into a matter that is extremely delicate."

"Your sister, my lord?" Sebastian noted how Ciel's expression darkened.

Ciel did have a sister, by the name of Cecilia. She was his twin, but not the heir. She would, without a doubt, be as cold as Ciel was. Rumor had it Cecilia had been inside the mansion, but no clues to suggest that or anything else had been found.

Sebastian had a theory, and if it meant that he had to prove it to get Ciel's sister back, he supposed it would be enough if it meant he could eat this brat's soul faster.

Unless he did find his mate, like his own sister.

Sebastian nearly grimaced. The last he'd heard of her was right when they'd been summoned by different sources.

"Yes," Ciel said with a nod.

Sebastian had a feeling that this contract would not turn out like he expected that it would.


	8. The Trancey Manor

I came to woozily.

Ciel was in a cage with me, both of us tied together with rope. I couldn't see him, I just knew it was him because I could feel the fake pigtails.

"And two fine ladies. One who, I am regretful to say, has an oddly-colored eye. You can keep them, sell them for parts…" The Viscount's voice was as high as ever. The blindfolds shielding our vision came off, and we were left in candlelight.

_Haven't they invented electricity yet?_ I thought irritably. I smiled a little. Wherever I'd come from, my memory was returning, slowly but surely.

"So, either keep all three together-" I looked into a similar cage and saw Rema "-or not, bidding for one starts at 4,000. For all three, 12,000."

I felt rage bubble up in my chest.

"_We're only worth 4,000?!" _I whisper-yelled.

"That's what you're complaining about?!" Ciel hissed.

"Shut up, _Ciela_," I grumbled.

Then I heard Ciel sigh.

"Sebastian." The Viscount stopped.

Cries alerted me of the fact that a demon was in our midst.

~:~

Sebastian smirked at feeling his lord's summons. When he entered and saw Nina gone and Ciel looking confused, he felt inexplicable rage at whoever took her.

"You could've called sooner," Sebastian informed his master, taking notice of his blood-soaked gloves. Rema glared at him.

"You can track her, right?" Rema asked hopefully.

"What did the demon look like?"

"Gold eyes, black hair. Rectangular glasses."

Sebastian knew his eyes were their normal demonic fuchsia.

"Leave it to me," he snarled.

~:~

He knew he was on the right track when gold knives came out of nowhere.

"Sebastian Michaelis," a voice growled.

Sebastian smiled and bowed. "You have something that belongs to me, Faustus. Perhaps you'd hand her over before I'm late for dinner?"

He sensed another demonic presence near him and nearly growled. Now was not the time for her to be here!

"What does it matter if I have what you seek?" the spider demon asked.

Sebastian dropped the smile, his eyes beginning to glow.

"She. Is. _Mine._" The spider demon grinned.

"You claim her? Hilarious. I wonder what kind of master you have. Does little Phantomhive know?"

A cry came from the mansion ahead.

"Your master," Sebastian hissed, "just hurt what is _mine."_

Faustus grinned. "Hand over Phantomhive, and I'll hand over the girl."

Sebastian said nothing, only got his silverware ready.

~:~

I yelped again as Alois Trancey kicked me in the stomach. I felt like my ribs had cracked.

Fudge.

"Where…is…Claude?!" the boy yelled. The violet haired maid walked over to me as the triplets entered the area. "Go get him, now."

The triplets bowed as the maid dragged me out.

"I'm sorry for my master," the woman whispered. "We'll get you patched up and you can go."

I coughed, my blood staining my hand. I whimpered a little.

~:~

"I hate waiting," muttered Rema. She was currently sitting on the edge of her seat. "What if he doesn't come back with her?"

"He was plenty pissed enough," Lau said in that deceptively soft voice. "I wouldn't be surprised if he is smoking when he comes back."

"Smoking mad or smoking a pipe?" asked Rema, tilting her head.

"He wouldn't get angry," Ciel said coldly.

The doorbell rang.

~:~

I was unceremoniously dropped out of a two-story window. Pretty sure I broke my leg. Oh, and my ribs screamed, maybe one or two broke.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach, careful not to touch them, and headed into the forest.

I saw that reaper guy again.

"Help," I whispered. Pain laced up my body. Everything became blurry. "Please…"

~:~

The demonic presence vanished from Sebastian's and Faustus' fight, moving towards the forest.

Sebastian didn't care, his main purpose to get Nina.

Then Faustus stopped and glared.

"I must leave."

He vanished. Sebastian turned to the demonic presence, which had just revealed itself.

"Hello, Araxis."

"I go by Grace now," Araxis-Sebastian's sister-said with a small smile. "I believe you claimed this little kitten?"

Sebastian's eyes fastened on Nina.

She looked terrible and pale.

"My, my," he tsked. "I must teach her to fight."

He ignored his sister's smirk.

~:~

"Oh, yes, miss, he's here, yes he is!" Mey-Rin chattered. "Lord Phantomhive, a girl wants to see you, yes she does!"

Madam Red raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Ciel, you're popular with the ladies," she said.

A young woman entered the room, shocking everyone. Ciel's eye widened, his cup and saucer dropping.

Madam Red looked like she'd just seen a ghost.

"Hello, big brother," Cecilia Phantomhive said.

~:~

Sebastian glared at his sister.

"Last I saw of you, you'd been called for a contract." His voice was hostile. "Why are you here?"

Grace Michaelis-as she'd named herself-smiled as she looked down at Nina.

"My mistress is a Phantomhive."

Sebastian's eyes widened fractionally. So Cecilia Phantomhive was alive.

"And she wanted revenge too, I would assume?"

"Closure, actually," Grace said dryly. "She asked simply for closure. I eat the souls of the murderously greedy."

"Disgusting," Sebastian sneered. "I will eat the soul of my master when the time calls for it."

Grace scoffed. "If-and when-that time comes, you probably won't."

"Why?" he questioned her. "Is that why you were sent to the Pit?"

Grace's eyes blazed. "Do not presume to know me, _brother._ My mate just so happens to be a Reaper."

"And you wonder why I hate acknowledging you as my pseudo-sister in this materialistic world."

"Spare me. Your mate is bleeding internally, and if it isn't fixed, you blasted idiot, you'll have to wait another thousand years."

"I do not know where you get the ridiculous notion that she's my mate."

"For one, you claimed her. For another, I'm pretty certain your master considers her in high esteem."

Sebastian scowled as he took the girl he claimed.

~:~

Rema was worried.

Cecilia Phantomhive looked just like her brother, but it looked like Ciel was angry with her being there.

"Brother, please do not-"

"Silence." Cecilia looked hurt. "It's been _years,_ Cecilia. Do not claim to know me. For now, you will address me as 'Lord Phantomhive'." Ciel was _pissed._

"Ciel, perhaps you should just enjoy the fact that your flesh-and-blood still lives," Rema said, not wanting bloodshed.

Ciel glared. "Don't presume to order me around!"

She kept her mouth shut.


	9. Admissions

Cecilia sighed. "Fine then, _Lord Phantomhive, _I've made a contract with Sebastian's sister."

Ciel blinked. "Sebastian has a sister?"

Cecilia rolled her eyes. "No, he's secretly a circus freak."

Ciel opened his mouth to speak, but Rema's loud sigh cut him off.

"Sarcasm, Ciel, sarcasm," Rema informed him.

Cecilia shot her a glare. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

Rema smiled, though it looked more like she was baring her teeth. "The name's Rema Havens, I'm a friend of Ciel's friend."

Cecilia dismissed her as 'unimportant'. Lau was just watching the proceedings with a small smirk on his face. "Yes, Sebastian has a sister. I'd imagine she went to go help with finding his ma-, um, girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Ciel asked, obviously confused.

Madam Red coughed, bringing their attention to them. Grell was sheet white for some reason.

"I suppose we should go to our rooms," the woman said with an uneasy smile. "Good day, Lord Phantomhive."

Lau, Ran-Mao, Madam Red, and Grell all left the room.

Cecilia watched them leave, then turned to Ciel. "Mate," she told him. "Sebastian's mate, apparently. But that's not really why I'm here. I've had Grace, my contracted demon, look into the cases. I know who the culprit is."

Ciel nodded. "As do I," he replied solemnly.

~:~

"You little troublemaker," Sebastian muttered to the hurt girl in his arms. She was still unconscious.

"We should take her to the Undertaker, he knows how to patch up people whilst alive," Grace called to him.

Sebastian grimaced. He'd prefer _not_ to visit that Grim Reaper-

"He's your mate, isn't he?"

Grace's sheepish smile was enough to tell him.

"That's why he's always mildly psychotic whenever Ciel visits him," Sebastian muttered.

Grace chuckled a little.

~:~

The Undertaker laughed as hard as he could when Grace told a simple, not-that-funny joke.

"Will you heal her?" Grace asked the Undertaker, and he looked at the child and laughed a little more.

"I can't do much~" he snickered. "But I can help her." He looked at Sebastian, tilting his head. Grace gently took Nina from Sebastian's arms and handed her to the Reaper.

~:~

Rema walked along the street a little while later, Nina on her back, sleeping soundly. Despite the Undertaker's claim that he couldn't do much, he'd actually done quite a bit for Nina. She'd wake up, but the Undertaker had said she'd be…different.

The girl moved a bit.

"Nina, you awake?" Nina didn't stir much. "We're headed to see where Ciel is, just so you know. I know that he's somewhere around here…" Nina's weight suddenly vanished off of Rema's back, and Rema whirled.

"Who's there?" Rema demanded.

"You're her friend, right?" Grell asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"You took Nina?" Rema growled.

"If I did?" asked the butler.

"Take me to her," she demanded. She was on the butler's back and seeing…a cat. She looked at Rema with an adorable look of confusion and fear-and Rema snorted when she realized that she was looking at a cat-version of Nina.

Or…what looked like a cat-version.

"She turned into a cat a few seconds ago, I don't think she's truly aware of that," the butler said in a stage whisper. Then he was gone, and Rema picked up the Nina-kitty and sighed.

"Of course you're a neko."

~:~

Aayla scowled at her book. Her tattoos itched, which wasn't rare, but it usually made for an irritating half hour of trying to avoid itching them.

She banged her head on one of them, sick of looking for an alternate way to save her friends. Nina had briefly woken up, asphyxiating, but she'd lapsed back after one word. 'Help'.

The body of one of the old members of Aayla's and Aaron's gang had been found and properly buried. The identical twins had also hired bodyguards, not that they were much help when off-duty.

"Damn it, Aayla," Aaron said, slamming the latest book shut. "I don't think it's possible to save them with modern crap."

Aayla nodded. "I know. I could call Willow," she suggested-only for Aaron to shake her head rapidly.

"We already owe her for the jailbreak," Aaron reminded her sister darkly. "'Sides, we've never even met the lady. Good thing, too-I think she's creepy enough through e-mail."

"You think everyone is creepy," Aayla pointed out with a scowl.

"I only thought Nina was creepy because she had that pure aura around her, and with victims like her it's not common," retorted Aaron. "Almost anyone could tell she's neglected and abused, but nobody would dare go out because Nina has powerful family members."

A cat meowed. Aayla scowled in its direction before returning her attention to her sister.

"It's not as if there's anything we can do about it right now," the older, calmer of the two sighed. "There's no magic that can help them. That's all I want to do-help my friends."

"I want to as well," Aaron told her sister. "But how the hell can we do that?"

"I know," another voice said. The sisters whirled, hands flying to hidden weapons. "Relax," the redhead that looked a lot like Nina, save for the eyes. They were ocean blue. Not the emerald green of their friend. "I'm Annamarie Willow Deathlight. Also known as Willow, and I am generally referred to 'creepy' even amongst my own circles, possibly having to do with my heritage as a neko-demon-angel-witch," she continued. "The neko, demon, and witch parts have existed in my family since the dragon demon Achor married the neko-witch Carolina. Angel comes from Father," her mouth twisted in a sardonic smile. "Funny, really, since we can't activate our natural abilities as a witch or until we defeat an angel," she grinned.

"You're less creepy than I expected," Aayla said, recovering quickly. "The way Aaron tells of her correspondence with you was as though you were an older male with the intent of kidnapping us."

Red filled Anna's face.

"I'm not-!" she was speechless. "I'm not!" she insisted, sounding horrified. "I'm Nina's biological twin sister!"

Aayla tensed. "What? Nina's an only child."

Anna shook her head. "No. Technically, I was born hundreds of years before her, but I'm like, literally a few seconds younger than her. It happens with my kind," she added, wincing a bit. "It's kind of confusing. Mother accidentally activated her powers while an angel time-traveled into the future and she eventually left when her powers activated while giving birth to that angel's kids. I assume he's not around anymore, but I heard someone had taken the Deathlight name here. Time travel is kind of difficult to understand."

"Unless you use a blue police box," muttered Aayla. Anna looked briefly amused, but then a serious expression appeared.

"Look, I can't save Nina right now. Right now she's safe, since I met her right after…" Anna tilted her head. "Hmm, I met her at a circus. She was undercover, but she's _safe,_" Anna stressed. "If she died right now I wouldn't have met her. She and I met occasionally, sent letters, and she met Mother and our grandparents. That's what's going to happen, and I'm sorry, it's going to take a long while." Anna looked truly sorry. "However, you can do something for me in the interim."

Aayla and Aaron gulped.

"While I keep Nina safe here, you go to Cross Academy and help out there." Out of nowhere, two admission forms appeared, completely blank.

"Well," Aayla heard Aaron say as Anna sauntered out, "shit just got real."

"It wasn't real before?" Aayla growled at Aaron as Anna left the shop. Aaron rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Aayla, chill," Aaron said, taking the admission forms, "not like we don't know Japanese. Plus, Akira-chan will probably take us in while we go."

Aayla scowled, but filled out the admission forms.

Thank God they owned the shop they were going to be closing up, otherwise they would have had to move out.

Instead, they put a CLOSED INDEFINITELY sign on their shop, and locked it. They didn't see the trill of protective magic Anna had put on the shop. They didn't even see the girl as they left with their bags smile at them.

"Think they'll find out?" asked the woman next to her.

"No, Cassidy. I don't think they'll find out quite yet."


	10. Betrayal and Talks

"Madam Red. I truly expected more from you," Ciel said coldly.

"You knew," Madam Red said with sadness.

"Indeed," Grace snorted, gathering attention. "It's not too often a Shinigami is employed as a butler."

"And demons the place of servants," Grell laughed, finally revealing his sharp teeth. "I always wondered why you had inept servants."

"Those three are natural idiots," Grace said, seeing Ciel's eyes widen. "And are actually under the contract demons. Choosing them was simply a stroke of fate for my brother."

"Don't call me 'brother'," Sebastian snarled at her.

"Domestic issues?" Grell giggled. "You were always one of the hot ones, Bassy."

Grace snorted a little.

"I knew you were a strange one," Grace said, smirking. "I just didn't know _how_ strange." Up on a rooftop not too far away, Rema snorted quietly in amusement.

"Nephew…I thought of you as my son." Madam Red paused. She heard a small snort; Grace didn't believe her. Ignoring the demon for the moment, she appealed to her nephew. "How did you become so jaded?"

"I was used in a ritual meant to summon an angel, only it didn't quite work out that way," Ciel said in a light tone. "Instead I got to summon a demon. He didn't slaughter all of them. His first priority is always to get me out of danger."

"He does his job well, then," Madam Red remarked. "But would you kill your own aunt?"

Ciel stared at her, eyes empty of emotion. "I would do whatever was necessary for the Queen," he said blandly. "If that includes commanding Sebastian to get rid of Jack the Ripper…well, death would be a much kinder reward for you." Ciel placed a hand on his eyepatch. "Have you not wondered why those who try to kill me never live to tell the tale?" he asked her, taking it off. "And have you not wondered if my eye was damaged? It was, but not irreparably. I will not live to adulthood. I have long accepted that. Sebastian!" Ciel's open eye turned to Sebastian, who straightened in preparation. Ciel's eye blazed open, revealing the contract mark imprinted on his eye. "I command you, Sebastian, to get rid of Jack the Ripper."

Sebastian bowed with his usual fake smile. "As you wish, my lord." He took off his gloves, his black contract mark gleaming in the night.

Grace looked to her contract holder, who shrugged carelessly. "Do whatever you like, Grace," she said.

Grace laughed. "As you wish, my scrawny little lady."

"I'M NOT SCRAWNY!" Cecilia screamed as Grace also took off her gloves, showing her own unique mark that almost looked exactly like Sebastian's.

Grace looked at her mistress. "Sorry, but you don't drink enough milk."

She vanished, but almost the entirety of London could hear Cecilia's enraged scream.

"Shut up!" Ciel hissed at his sister.

"You're a midget, too! Isn't it a terrible life, being the smallest lord in the room?" sniffed Cecilia.

Ciel sweatdropped. "Not really…" he said. Not since Nina had attended that one meeting with him and had hit the guy…_in his soft spot_ while playing a game. She had definitely made an impression, good or bad, Ciel didn't really know.

He wasn't too sure if he wanted to know, really.

"Lucky," his sister sighed. "So what exactly is up with that maid and her friend? You running an orphanage?"

"The maid's friend," Ciel said, quite irritated, "is Nina Deathlight."

Cecilia's eyes widened in shock.

"No way," she breathed.

Ciel nodded. "Yeah, the lost princess of Ireland. She doesn't remember anything and she seems to be the most fatal accident prone person I think I will ever meet."

This time Cecilia was the one to sweatdrop. "I see," the girl said. "Is that why you let her in your home?"

"No, she and Rema are quite amusing. You'll never guess what Nina did once to Azzuro Vanel," he grinned in remembrance, causing Madam Red to stifle a gasp at that. Ciel hadn't smiled since…since he'd come back from the dead, in a way.

"What did she do?" Cecilia asked eagerly, and Ciel told her. Cecilia laughed _hard._ "Sounds like he had it coming," she giggled.

"I'm sorry, Ciel, Cecilia…" Ciel and Cecilia blinked, having forgotten about their aunt. "I can't bring myself to kill you. You look so much like her, Cecilia…" Sadness shone in the woman's eyes.

Sebastian and Grace had paused in their reckless style of single combat. Shinigamis were notorious of their hate for demons, and yet it seemed that this reaper had no such contempt for demons.

"You two are poetry in motion~! Nothing, sadly, can compare to my darling Re-re!"

And outraged shout reached their ears. "_Re-re? What am I, a frigging pet? If you EVER call me that again, Grell, I will personally take your chainsaw and-!"_

The rest of her sentence was lost as a yowl of an angry or upset cat hit their ears.

Probably for the best, too, since nobody really wanted to hear the angry female's screams.

~:~

Akari Tsukuyomi washed her hair several more times until it returned to its more natural dark green. It was a mutation from one of her ancestors, apparently. The Tsukuyomi clan were known for its weird hair colors and slightly psychic children. Most children aged slower than normal each time a new generation was introduced. Akari was the last of her clan, sadly. She was more sensitive to otherworldly things than anyone else.

Of course, since most of her clan was dead and everyone else believed she was dead, too, she'd been taken in by a kind family and given the last name Hikari. Akari had found it somewhat odd that the family she'd been taken in by was a commoner family that already had a girl named Haruhi. She waved it off as unimportant, though. What Haruhi did in her spare time was none of Akari's business.

As Akari got dressed and left her new apartment right next to her adoptive family's, she saw a bunch of handsome men staring at Ranka, Haruhi's dad that was also a crossdresser.

"Hey, Dad," Akari smiled. "Need help with these crazies?"

"Are you a Lobelia girl?" demanded one of the men.

"No," Akari said blankly. "I go to Cross Academy when I'm not in America."

They stared. It was hard to get into Cross Academy, but it was probably because of the vampires.

Actually, it was most definitely the vampires.

Akari slipped past the group-then stopped as she saw two very familiar friends. "Hey, Aaron, Aayla!" she called in grammatically correct English. "How are you two doing? And why are you here?"

They held up papers that gave them the right to attend Cross Academy.

Akari sighed. "Let me guess, you want to rest at my place."

"Just until we get to Cross Academy," promised Aayla. "Please?"

Akari suppressed a sigh. "Ah, fine," Akari grumbled. "Just come with me to the market-damn club is here for my sister. Bakas," she scoffed, jerking her thumb at the silently watching Host Club.

"We're not 'bakas'!" shouted the club.

"No, you are creepy stalkers who have no respect for my sister's home life or life at all," Akari replied bluntly. "Later, losers!" she called back to them after that, not caring to mention that Aayla and Aaron could speak flawless Japanese. Sometimes English-while somewhat complicated-was so simple and easy.

The three were glad when they came back to Akari's apartment that it wasn't full of noisy men.

Good riddance.


	11. A Little Bit of Downtime

"Nina!" I blinked around at my surroundings and noticed I was on a rooftop. I blinked a couple more times. "You're awake!"

I nodded dumbly. "What's going on, Rema?"

Rema chuckled a little sheepishly. "Well…we found out that Madam Red was a psychotic murderess," she admitted.

I nodded sagely. "I always thought she had an angry flash in her eyes when I woke up from the come and found out, ya know?"

Rema looked like she wanted to strangle me. "Why didn't you say anything?!"

"'Cause I didn't know if she would actually turn out to be a psychotic murderess! Sorry for giving the woman the benefit of the doubt!" I snapped at her.

Rema sighed. "Let's just calm down. Right now, there are two demons fighting Grell, a Shinigami."

"They're reapers, not death gods," I automatically corrected. "There's a difference. A clear one, too."

"I doubt that," snorted Rema. "I bet whoever told you that was a boring, by-the-book worker."

"I am not," a bored voice said, "a boring, by-the-book worker. I am a reaper, and Reaper Grell has been killing indiscriminately. Normally, he would be put down, but he is a remarkable reaper, despite his many eccentricities."

"Oh…" I said, whirling and seeing the same weird guy. "It's you."

He looked vaguely insulted before he sighed and leapt onto the other building, just in time to stop Sebastian from killing Grell.

"Sorry to disrupt this," he said in a bored tone that said he was anything _but_ sorry. "But Grell Sutcliff must come with me."

Everyone blinked.

"And you might be…?" asked Grace politely.

"You must be Grace Michaelis. You are very fortunate to have a highly respected reaper as your mate," the man said. "I am William T. Spears, reaper." He flicked a card over to her, but Sebastian was the one to catch it. "Now, for the unauthorized deaths of multiple people before their time and also the unauthorized making of a one-of-a-kind scythe, you're being demoted." _Again,_ his tone implied.

Grell burst into comical tears.

"No!" he wept. "Can I at least have your coat as a reminder of all the fun times we had, Madam Red?"

Madam Red sighed. "Fine," she grumbled. She tossed the reaper her coat.

As soon as both reapers were gone, Grace and Sebastian turned to their respective masters.

"Do I still have to kill her?" Sebastian asked.

"No…" Ciel sighed. "However," he said, his eyes darkening, "I suggest you refrain from murdering any more prostitutes. I'd hate for the Queen to be told about your…extracurricular activities and have to kill you, the next time-if there ever will be-for real."

Madam Red nodded. "Very well," she said. "Have a good rest of the night, Ciel."

Madam Red stalked off.

"Sentiment?" Sebastian asked, tilting his head to his master.

Ciel glared back fearlessly.

"No," he said coolly. "She won't do it again."

~:~

I wrung out my hair quickly, it falling into what seemed to be natural curls now.

Not that I really minded. I liked the curls. They were pretty. I slipped into my nightgown and exited the bathroom, a smiling Sebastian scaring me.

"What the _hell?!"_ I yelled, holding a hand to my fast-beating heart, feeling as though it was going to pound out of my chest. I slumped on the wall as he just chuckled and left.

Did he get a kick out of scaring people? That would explain _everything…_actually, no it wouldn't.

After a few minutes of getting my heart back under control, I went back into my room and sighed.

I was bored here. It was much less fun, to be honest, to be in the middle of danger. Having been hurt multiple times I swore I just needed a few lessons in case I did get attacked.

That wasn't exactly easy, though, with Elizabeth over for a week, to my and Rema's chagrin.

It was made embarrassing when it all came to a head at the last dinner, where Elizabeth was quite silent, causing Ciel to finally ask her what was wrong.

"Her."

My head jerked up, and I saw all of the servants, of whom only Grace and Sebastian were doing anything, pause.

"Me?" I squeaked.

"Yes, you," Elizabeth said in a dark tone. "You want to take my Ciel away from me!"

I almost rolled my eyes. I only loved Ciel as a little brother. I shook my head.

"It's not like that," I said, looking down at my plate. "First," I said, raising my hand, knowing without looking Elizabeth was opening her mouth, "I'm almost sixteen." I felt my face start to blaze. Yeah, I'd lied to Azzuro Vanel, but I hadn't exactly wanted him to know that I was younger than I really was. "And I'm not someone who wants to marry a lord, no offense," I added to Ciel.

"So you're too old for him?" Elizabeth asked, rather darkly. "Tell me that's not your only reason! You still love my Ciel-"

"As a brother!" I snapped, standing up. "I love Ciel _as a brother, _Miss Midford. And I cannot, nor will I, ever even try to get a marriage contract with him, because I am not that _jealous_ of yours and Ciel's relationship. I'm also amnesiac, and apparently I'm some sort of princess, so even if I tried, I probably already have a marriage contract that my mother wrote up. Okay?" I was angry, certainly, but I never thought I'd be using my amnesia problem as an excuse. "I apologize if I was too harsh with you." I bowed. "May I be excused?" I asked Ciel, who nodded, looking completely shocked.

I brushed past Sebastian and hurried up the steps, not wanting to talk to anyone. I was upset, but I wasn't all that angry at Elizabeth. She was a jealous little girl and I really had no right to be here.

If it were me, I suppose I would be jealous, too.

But I was fifteen, she was _twelve._ Granted, I may be older, but I look like a thirteen-year-old, which was in all honesty kind of freaky.

There was a knock on my door.

I opened it with a small sigh, expecting Rema or someone-anyone other than the one standing on the other side of the door.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said, looking down. "I hope you'll forgive me."

"Always," I said warmly. "Is Ciel still eating dinner?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"Then go back down there and be happy, I wasn't very hungry anyway," I smiled, lying to her and feeling guilty for doing so.

She nodded and happily skipped off, and I shut my door and sighed, walking over to the window and climbing onto the window seat and opened the window, smiling as the cool night air washed over me.

Learning how to be stronger wasn't going to be easy, but I would do it.


	12. More Downtime

"Ciel…" Ciel shivered at the dark tone Nina was sporting as she stood next to him. "Why are you throwing a ball? Again?"

This was the second one…of the week.

Ciel was annoyed himself.

"Sebastian said that as a noble I had to keep up appearances, especially since I'm turning thirteen in a couple weeks," Ciel reminded her in a whisper.

"Oh yeah, and I'm turning sixteen," she mumbled. "But still, this is ridiculous. Isn't one ball per week enough?"

"But the mansion is so _empty_," Sebastian purred beside her. "Surely you like the female additions?"

Ciel's eye twitched as he saw Sebastian _leering_ at Nina, who had turned a bright red color.

"But, like I said, it's annoying," Nina grumbled. "And I don't even know how to dance."

"We'll have to add that to your lessons," Grace said, also appearing. "And brother-"

Sebastian shot his sister a small glare.

"-don't look at me like that, and stop leering at her. People are watching and will think you inappropriate."

"He _is_ inappropriate," muttered Nina. Rema, who was passing by, snorted quietly at her friend's expense.

"I'm glad you think so," Sebastian said, and Nina choked on her wine, her face looking like she was sunburnt.

"CIEL!" Ciel winced as Elizabeth appeared. "For a moment I thought I saw your twin here! It's so funny, for a second I thought you were wearing a pink dress!"

Nina held a hand over her mouth, her shoulders starting to shake.

Ciel could have died right then and there.

~:~

The guests were finally leaving. They wouldn't be back for another two weeks, and the party would be virtually the same, but still, the members of the Phantomhive house were relieved to see them all go.

When only Cecilia was left and it looked like she and Grace were staying, everyone slipped off to their rooms-or, in Nina's and Rema's case, to Nina's room.

"I think I remember something," Rema admitted when the two got to the room and the door was shut.

Nina's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, excitedly.

"Yeah. A girl name Hikari, I think," Rema said, playing with the hem of her dress. "You?"

"Nothing," admitted the teenager. "I-"

"Nina!"

~:~

"_Hi, I am Akari Hikari. __I am not good at English," the young girl at the front of the class said, bowing. _

"_She sounds cool," Rema said, and I heard snickers._

_Glancing around, I leveled a glare at the girl. _

"_What's so funny, Candace?"_

"_Well, the fact that Rema thinks that she's cool is," Candace snorted. "It's almost as cool as your cartoon issues."_

"_It's called __**anime,**__ and it's actually where I learned Japanese," I snarled at her._

"_The redhead is out!" Candace yelled, and laughter floated around the classroom, the teacher muffling her own. None of the teachers really liked Rema or me._

_Defiantly, I stood and bowed to the girl. "Kon'nichiwa, misu Hikari. Sore wa anata o mitasu tame ni yorokobidesu." (Hello, Miss Hikari. It is a pleasure to meet you.)_

_There was silence, then Akari smiled. "Kon'nichiwa. Watashi wa anata no namae o shirimasen." (Hello. I do not know your name.)_

"_Nīna. Nīna Deathlight. Kore wa, watashi no yūjindearimasu Rema Havens." (Nina. Nina Deathlight. This is my friend, Rema Havens.)_

"_Anata, Rema to Nīna hajimemashite." (Nice to meet you, Rema and Nina.)_ _Akari grinned. "Akari watashiwoyonde kudasai." (Please call me Akari.)_

_I nodded. "Redī Akari, arigatōgozaimashita." (Thank you, Lady Akari.) I knew enough to know she wasn't just an ordinary exchange student._

"_Okay," the teacher said, "I suppose Akari will have to sit with you two miscreants then." I rolled my eyes. Akari was already written off as a lost cause. Which was really stupid. "Akari," she said really slowly, "go sit next to the people you were talking to."_

_Akari looked at her like she'd grown three heads, then looked at me and Rema._

"_Watashi wa kanojo ga watashi no fairu o mitetora re, watashi wa kanzen ni, watashi wa ryūchō ni hanasu koto ga dekinai eigo o rikai suru koto ga dekimasu jitsugen omoitaidesu." (I wish she'd taken a look at my file and realized I can understand English perfectly, I just can't speak it fluently.)_

_Rema nodded sympathetically. "Subete no kyōshi wa anata ga shitte iru dake no yō ni, watashitachi o nikumimasu. Mata, kono kurasu no sensei wa, isshu no kimyōdesu. Kanojo wa watashitachi ni kōryū o ataeru no ga suki," she explained to Akari as she sat down. (All the teachers hate us, just so you know. Also, our teacher in this class is kind of strange. She likes to give us detention.)_

_Akari looked between the two of us. I grimaced. A look of enlightenment came upon the girl's face. _

"_Watashi wa anata no on'nanoko ni tsuite keikoku sa remashita," she said, grinning a bit. (I was warned about you girls.)_

"_Hontōni? Nani o iwa remashita ka?" I asked, interested. (Really? What was said)_

"_Anata koto o baka to toraburudeshita. Ima, watashi wa sorera wa tan'naru uwasadatta koto ga wakarimasu." (That you were idiots and troublemakers. Now I see that those were mere rumors.)_

"_Mā, baka bubun wa shinjitsude wa arimasen. Demo, watashi wa toraburumēkādesu," admitted a sheepish Rema. (Well, the idiot part isn't true. I am a troublemaker, though.)_

_Akari nodded, then looked at me expectantly._

"_Watashi wa chōdo kanojo no orokana sukīmu to issho ni ikimasu," I sighed with no small amount of regret. (I just go along with her stupid schemes.)_

"_Ā. Sore wa shitte yoidesu," smirked Akari. (Oh. That is good to know.) I had a bad feeling about this…_

~:~

I felt pain blooming on my face.

"Ā! Nanisore ga tamedeshita ka?" I complained. (Ah! What was that for?)

"English," reminded Rema. "And you've been sitting there just staring off into space. It's kind of weird!"

"I was remembering a first day of class thing," I admitted. "I think we're from the future. Explains why I hate the dresses."

Rema raised an eyebrow. "Haven't really kicked up much of a fuss, though, have you?"

"Only because I'm apparently a missing princess," I sighed. "And I can't exactly get away with a lot, can I? You're in a position where it's practically _expected."_

"Ouch," Rema snorted. "I only 'crossdress' during this time because I hate dresses."

"Yet you like skirts," I pointed out with a smirk.

"That's different," Rema defended. "I like skirts because I can always wear tights under them. I can never do that with dresses-it looks weird on me."

"No, you just think it looks weird," I said seriously. We ended up looking at each other for a second after that and started laughing.

"But seriously, I'm glad you remember something, at least," she admitted. "Even if it is meeting a girl named Hikari."

"Her name's actually Hikari Akira, and she's Japanese," I corrected.

Rema waved her hand. "Technicalities."

"Tch. Whatever."

"Ladies." They turned to Ciel, who gave them a smile. "I heard you two wanted to learn self-defense. Grace has agreed to teach you two and myself."

"So how long is Grace staying?" I asked as we walked to the room where Grace would be teaching us.

"I do not know," Ciel replied. "It's difficult to tell. She and Cecilia insist upon staying."

"We're growing on you," Cecilia said, making the three jump a bit.

"Like mold," Ciel muttered.


	13. Lessons and Cross Academy

"Alright. I shall be teaching you self-defense as well as lessons on how to be a lady for the both of you," Sebastian informed the three girls in attendance. Grace was bent over a table, writing something down. "First lesson." He snapped a ruler in front of the slouching Rema and slightly slouching Nina. "Ladies don't slouch."

Cecilia sipped her tea daintily.

"Second lesson, which mainly goes to Miss Havens. Don't use sarcasm. Or don't use it often. If you do, other ladies will assume you rude and obnoxious. Third lesson. Do not go over the top in complimenting someone or insulting someone; the first one could be seen as kissing up to the person and the second one is too rude to finish insulting the person. I don't care if you're blunt and truthful. However, it will make you a target. I suggest, if any such meetings that occur, that Lady Phantomhive accompany Nina or you, Miss Havens. Fourth lesson. Cursing isn't acceptable for a lady."

"Are you quite finished for the day?" Grace asked, looking impatient. "I really would like to make sure my lady is well-protected, should she have need to leave."

"Very well, then," Sebastian said, stepping aside. Grace took her gloves off, revealing her elegant, yet definitely strong, hands. Unlike her brother, there was no contract mark on her hand.

Rema, Nina, and Cecilia all stood, eager for the lesson.

~:~

~Aayla

"Welcome to Cross Academy," beamed a short brunette. "It's nice to meet other people."

Aayla stared at her blankly for a minute, then turned to Aaron, who shrugged, not caring all that much what her sister revealed.

"...any questions?" the brunette asked. Akari grinned as Aayla spoke.

"Yeah, is the Night Class really made up of vampires?"

The brunette paled, but the silver-haired boy scoffed.

"Ridiculous rumors."

"Not really," Aaron countered. "We live near a couple vampires in America."

There was another pause.

"If you didn't know, we're sorry for telling you," Aayla offered weakly.

"Eh, Cross-san is a terrible liar," Akari said, stepping up fluidly. "Almost as bad as my sister. Actually, no, worse than Haruhi; Haruhi can lie pretty well. It's you complexion that gave it away, sweetie."

"Hey, be nice," the silver-haired man said.

"Or what? You gonna shoot us?" Aayla said in a challenging voice.

Sparks shot between Aayla and the other man.

"What's going on?" A man dressed in all white...

Akari coughed. "Ah, Kuran-san." She bowed. "Just trying to make certain that my friends here are allowed to help out; after all, they are searching for a solution to help a friend in need. Desperate need. All three of us have encountered vampires before, Kuran-san."

There was a pause.

"I see no harm in allowing them into the school if they already know about vampires," the Night Class president said with a slight crimson glow. "I do hope we have not impeded your entrance in any way, Hikari-san."

"Kuran-san." Akari passed him with her luggage, Aayla and Aaron doing the same.

"Why would Headmaster Cross allow two Yankee thugs here?" whispered Yuki Cross.

The twins sweatdropped a bit. Well, they _were _ex-gang members... But thugs? Really? Why did they have to say _that _word? They hadn't really been thug-like. Sure, they were tough and had wicked tats, but that was pretty much it. Nobody wanted to mess with the Devil Twins.

"Sorry," Aayla finally said after the two kept repeating 'Yankee' and 'thug' in their sentences. "But just because we are American and have tattoos does not mean that we're 'thugs'. I _detest _that word and the meaning of it. Call us anything _but _thugs. Got it? It's _such _an ugly thing for what we did."

Aayla gave her most unnerving smile.

It succeeded in creeping them out.

"Sorry," Yuki blushed. "But you're two American strangers who came with accepted forms and we usually have to sign for another person to get into the Day Class. You not getting our permission is kind of strange."

Unnoticed by the Japanese natives, Aayla and Aaron exchanged panicked looks.

_What, exactly, had Willow done?_

"We have a friend that said something here might help another friend," Aayla explained. Quite vaguely, too.

"Oh? Help how?" Yuki asked, sounding like she genuinely cared.

"Our friends Nina and Rema are in comas," Aayla said in a quiet voice. "I mean, we're not hoping for a magical elixir that can cure the dead, but we're looking for hope that they _can _wake up. Each day that passes is another day that they're less likely to wake up from and it's hard for me to accept that they could die, you know?"

Aaron set a supportive hand on Aayla's shoulder.

"I see," Yuki whispered. "Well, you could check the library! I'm sure if you told the headmaster, he'll let you use it even if it's out of bounds."

"Thank you, Cross-san," Aaron said in her slightly deeper voice. "It means a lot that you would do this for us."

Yuki laughed and waved it off a bit. "It's not a big deal, really!" she tried to insist.

But to the twin sisters, waking Nina and Rema up _was _a big deal. Just because Willow said it would take a long time didn't mean... Didn't mean the twins weren't going to stop looking.

After a long pause, Aaron and Aayla turned to face Yuki and Zero.

"It _is _a big deal to us," they said in sync, voices grave.


	14. Awkwardness and Snakes

"I'm so sore..." moaned Nina, flopping down on the couch.

Rema groaned, Cecilia snoring slightly.

"I'm not sure I can do this every day," Rema managed to say after a few seconds of silence.

With an effort, Nina sat up.

"We're heading out on a trip," Ciel announced.

Cecilia jerked up. "When?"

"Two weeks. Her Majesty said it wasn't a pressing issue, and if we could send a few people to see if they would make way for us or even stop it now, then I should do so." He held out a letter to Cecilia and Cecilia took it.

"Intriguing," Cecilia muttered. "How about I take Grace and we can try to finish this before anyone else gets involved?"

"I want to go!" Nina said, sitting upright, face eager. There was a bit of a silence. Grace looked at Sebastian to see his face blank.

She let out a snort. "I don't see why not, cutie," she told Nina. "Perhaps Madam Red would like to join us?"

"You're inviting Jack the Ripper?" Ciel deadpanned.

"I don't see why not," smiled Cecilia. "Hell hath no fury -"

"-Like a woman scorned," Grace completed.

"_Hell Hath aucune fureur comme une femme dédaignée_," Nina said with a grin, making everyone but Rema look at her.

Hearing Nina speak French...

Sebastian coughed politely. "I shall get you packed."

"No, I think I shall do it," Grace said in a pleasant tone.

Cecilia blinked out of it. "Right. Job. Majesty."

"I could do it, I'm not an invalid," Nina pointed out with a frown.

"No, you just stay and sound sexy in French," Rema said in an absent tone.

Nina went red. "Oh. _Oh. _Um, you know, I'm just going to go pack!" She was gone in an instant.

"Thank you, Rema," Sebastian said in slightly sarcastic tone before bowing and leaving for the kitchen.

Rema looked at his retreating form. "Who pissed him off?"

"I think you did when you mentioned Nina sounded sexy when she spoke in French," Grace said after a minute.

Ciel simply sipped his tea.

"Grace, would you please send a missive to Madam Red?" Cecilia questioned, and Grace nodded.

"Of course, Lady Phantomhive. I shall be back with her answer shortly."

~:~

Nina, CC, Grace, and Madam Red all sat in a carriage, pulled by Grell, who looked like he was sulking because he didn't have his Death Chainsaw.

"So," Nina began awkwardly, "killing prostitutes anymore?"

Madam Red blinked. "No. Not anymore. I have no reason."

Nina frowned. "Will you... Adopt?"

Madam Red shrugged. "Perhaps. I don't know. I'm thinking about it," she nodded.

"Ah." Nina messed with a loose string. "So, where are we headed?"

"To a mysterious town known as 'Dogtown'," Grace informed them. All four got comfortable as she spoke. "This town is haunted by what seems to be a ghost dog. Not that I believe in such things."

"No, that's right up there with demons and soul reapers, right?" CC asked sarcastically.

"I never said I didn't think ghosts are real, I know they are," Grace said snappily. "I said I don't believe that ghost dogs are real. Come on, _ghost dogs?_ They would be immaterial and incapable of much thought. Normal human ghosts cannot touch the physical aspect of this materialistic world, with a few notable exceptions. It's very unlikely that you will ever meet a human ghost that has not passed on to whatever realm they are destined for, so I won't tell you who I am speaking of. Ghost dogs are probably just a made up story with very little basis in fact. It could be a witch or warlock's work, but starting another witch hunt isn't a very good idea," she finished, settling back.

"Warlock? I thought they weren't real," Nina frowned. "Like wizards."

"Wizards aren't," CC explained. "Warlocks are. Never call a warlock a wizard; it's offensive."

"There are different hell dimensions in Hell. There are us, the demons that can become human, and there's those who create a warlock by assuming human form and usually sleeping with a human. Since England is all about religion, warlocks have moved to the far more agreeable West, America. Or other countries. Let's just assume there isn't really any human women who wish to be impregnated with a warlock child." Grace didn't seem to mind Nina's or Madam Red's interest.

"I met a strange one on my travels," CC offered with a small smile.

"Yes, before she contracted me," Grace smiled. "He was the one who offered me a chance to crawl out of the pits of hell to get back to the Undertaker. CC took on the contract and I finally reunited with my mate."

"Interesting," Nina said weakly. "So what am I supposed to do on this job?" she asked, effectively killing the mood and getting back to business.

"You, my dear, are our cover. Plus, you can try out some other areas. I heard a circus was coming to town for a brief time; get some lessons on acrobatics. You'll need it." Grace winked.

Nina scowled a bit.

~:~

Nina entered Noah's Ark Circus with a ticket clutched in her hand and completely lost. Grace had promised to come get her after the show, but Nina had a feeling she'd missed half of it.

She somehow found herself wandering around the performers' tents, and she saw a snake.

She felt like running, but stayed very, very still as the snake slid over to her and looked at her like she was an intruder.

"I'm lost," she told the snake. She must be going nuts. "Can you show me the way out, preferably without getting killed?" She watched the snake stop.

Then the snake looped around and paused, looking back at her like '_Come on, human! I don't have all day!'_ She looked around and thanked any deity that she was _not _being watched by anyone. Taking a deep breath, she followed the snake.

~:~

"Learn anything?" the demon maid asked her when the snake left her near the entrance.

"Yeah, snakes are the most awesome creatures to exist," Nina mumbled.

"What?"

"Snakes are cool." Nina didn't elaborate and continued walking.

"No lessons?" Grace sounded disappointed.

"I was ten feet from the exit, Grace. Then I somehow found myself wandering around the tents. I wasn't going to wake up anyone and ask for lessons, Grace." Nina walked ahead, face burning.

"Nina." Grace's voice was serious. "Did a snake lead you out?"

Nina whirled around. "Why?" she demanded, then held her hand up. "You know what, never mind. Yes, a snake led me out. Now, let's go."


	15. Circus

Nina went out in Dogtown after her mishap at the circus, fully intending to go to the circus later on. Seeing several of the performers walking around, Nina went to the redhead and the pretty lady with the tiger.

"You did awesome!" she said with a smile. "I really liked the tiger. She's a real beauty." Nina smiled at the two, and the lady smiled.

"She's a real handful, though. Got any friends who like tigers?"

Nina opened her mouth, then sweatdropped as she realized that Sebastian would probably fall in love with the giant tiger.

"Yeah, but he's all the way back in his master's manor," she said dryly.

"Friend of the nobility?" the redhead asked, fully turning to her with an inquisitive look. "Which lord?"

"Um, Lord Phantomhive," she said with a sheepish smile, looking away and missing the look the lady and redhead shared.

"NINA!"

Nina froze. _So much for freedom._ "Sorry, gotta run!" she said, diving out of sight just as her shadow appeared.

~:~

Nina slipped inside the circus quietly, sitting next to a man she'd seen in the market with five dogs. The limit to any one household as set forth by the lord of the manor, who was indulging the five women.

Nina got a particularly nasty feeling from the maid, Angela, so that's why she'd been in the marketplace.

"Hey, I saw you earlier!" he said, clearly trying to be friendly.

"I saw you," Nina smiled. "I never caught your name."

"James," he said with a smile.

"Nina," she introduced herself.

"You're pretty," he said, and Nina blushed a bit.

"You can tell my age?"

"Of course. It's all in the eyes. You'll grow taller, but you'll grow prettier, too!" He smiled at her.

"Sorry, but that was kind of creepy."

"Right. Sorry about that."

He gave her a brilliant smile.

She smiled back, taken aback.

The circus started.

~:~

"All right, for this last week we're here, we're holding an acrobatics training camp!" Nina caught James' eyes and grinned at him. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, turning his attention back on the redhead. "Ten pounds per day! You quit anytime, it's only ten pounds!"

The crowd contemplated.

"Beast will be helping with self-defense. Anyone who wants to try to best Beast is also welcome to try out!"

Nina was about to slip out when Grace's voice hissed in her ears.

"You don't do this and I'll make sure training is harder than hell when Sebastian comes."

"Literally or metaphorically?" Nina tossed back.

"Nice one," Grace said, sounding grudgingly surprised.

"Always the tone of surprise," Nina said with sarcasm.

"What did Sebastian say about sarcasm?"

"I'm a princess, not a lady," Nina informed her smugly.

"True."

"Anyone who wants to do this, please have seventy pounds for the whole week ready if you plan on doing the whole week. Refunds of your money are available!" Joker smiled.

"Do you think it's a joke?" Nina heard.

"No," Nina said, taking their attention. "It's not a joke. I suppose it's mostly for women, as men do have a nasty habit of thinking they can control women."

There was a pause. Nina stood up and held her hand up.

"I'll do it!"

An envelope was tossed at her.

She reached for it... Reached for it...

And fell as she grasped it.

When she realized she'd stopped, there was a hushed silence. Nina realized she was being carried by the back of her shirt... By the tiger.

"I guess," she smiled at Joker, who seemed highly amused by the whole sight, "I really need those lessons for coordination, yes?"

He laughed. "You should be the jester!" he laughed brightly.

Nina was just relieved that she wasn't eaten by the tiger.

~:~

Beast approached Joker later, after the people had all gone home.

"If we're right, the Phantomhive will come to the circus to get his revenge, yes?" she said, frowning.

"When that happens, we will owe everything to the girl and pray she can save us," Joker replied quietly. "I know who the girl is. Nina Deathlight, lost princess of the Irish monarchy."

"And descendant of a demon. Perhaps if we pledge our loyalty..." Beast began.

"Let's not forget that we still need to stay ahead of the Phantomhive boy. Let's teach the girl, but casually wheedle out information on him. Snake's snake liked her."

"Yes, perhaps that might work." Beast sipped at her champagne. "I only hope we don't get killed because of our..." she looked at her leg.

Joker shrugged. "If we get killed, we get killed." He chuckled.

Beast threw him an unamused look.

~:~

"Be careful not to fall!" Grace snorted, watching Nina trying to balance on the wire.

"Not helping!" Nina snapped. "Sorry, but it's not," she added a few seconds after she apologized.

"I know. That's why I'm telling you to be careful!"

Nina took a deep breath and stepped out on the line.

Perfect balance.

"Happy?" she asked Grace. Nina wasn't all that happy. She hated heights.

"Sure. Just don't fall. I'm not going to catch you."

Nina wobbled as she put one foot in front of the other. When she got to the middle of the rope, she swayed.

Alarmed, Grace moved under her.

Nina took a deep breath and started to walk again.

She made it to the end, then collapsed as she shakily got to the ground.


	16. James and Angela

"Ciel! You're finally here!" Nina hugged Ciel fiercely. "Hello, Sebastian~!" She added, after releasing Ciel. "Mey-Rin, Baldroy, Finnian," she nodded at them cordially.

"You're wearing commoner clothing," Ciel remarked.

"Ah, Lord Barrymore has been most accommodating... A little _too _accommodating," Nina admitted, her energy seeping out of her. "I haven't really been in the manor for a while; I've been enjoying the rather brilliant weather as of late!"

"NINA, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Gotta dash!" Nina sprinted away, fleeing the other demonic maid, who stopped and looked around, Nina having vanished at that point.

"Where is that little rascal?" Grace growled.

Sebastian glared. "And just who are you to call her a 'rascal'?"

"I don't have time for your antagonizing ways, Sebastian Michaelis!" Grace snapped at him, her eyes brightening in a flash of fuchsia. "Either help me or not, I do not have the time to be wasting on this!"

"That way," Ciel lied flatly, pointing into an alley.

Grace nodded her thanks and left, running after her.

"Now," Sebastian said in a pleasant tone, "shall we go kill - I mean, _meet, _Lord Barrymore?"

Ciel eyed his demon butler, then he shook his head.

"Master?" Sebastian asked, looking confused.

"Nothing. You would just deny it. Let us go see this Lord Barrymore."

~:~

Angela gazed at the demon. She'd supplied the pure soul with all the tools to break free of the demon's enchantment; it seemed that she needed to use a different means to ensnare the girl's soul.

Angela had been involved in the death of Ciel's and Cecilia's parents, yes. She was the leader of the cult that had destroyed the lives of both of the duo.

And yet, that hate that she had so carefully nurtured in him through various hints and tasks was vanishing a little because of that pure soul. Not that she now cared about the child's fate any longer. Upon seeing the pure soul, Angela wanted it. She wanted that soul to be under her power, to be hers and hers alone.

There was no way she would leave her be. None.

The demon gazed at her, anger and hate for her very presence seen in those eyes. Interestingly enough, she had only sensed confusion in the other demon's eyes when they'd first met.

She had changed her end goal. She wouldn't make the girl a doll like Drocell; perhaps she'd let Drocell go in exchange for the girl. Of course she wouldn't return the doll to life, but perhaps living forever would give the doll something else to do.

She didn't care. It wasn't Drocell she wanted anymore.

She didn't even care what that demon dog did anymore.

She wanted the pure soul. And she would get the pure soul. No matter what it took.

Angela left the room, pretending to go to do the laundry (something she never did; she just flicked her hand and was off doing other, more important things she wanted to do). In reality, she would start the first part of her plan to take control of the girl with the pure soul.

~:~

Nina ran through the town, people turning and gazing at the smile she had as she did. Sure, she looked like a child and used it to her advantage sometimes, but this was a seriously good day, what with the sun beaming down and heating the land and all. It warmed her skin and gave her energy. It made her happy.

She stumbled.

She was caught in surprisingly strong arms.

"Wow, you really are a klutz!" James' voice said.

"James!" Nina hugged him in greeting. "I haven't seen you since the night I volunteered for the self-defense lessons at the circus!"

"Yeah, my pop told me to stay away from you nobles," James said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Said you were close to Lord Barrymore."

"I'm not," Nina said with a slight chuckle. "I had to wait for Lord Phantomhive to arrive here. It was a very nice vacation... Aside from the getting beat up by Beast part. That hurt."

"A lady shouldn't be doing that!" James protested.

"James, you're nice, but you're also full of shit," she said with a smirk. "I'm not a lady. And if I have to swear like a sailor to prove it, I shall do so."

James blinked at her. Then he laughed boisterously.

"Want to come to my home? Just to show my pops that not all nobles are bad?" he quizzed her.

"Uh..." Nina gulped a bit. "I suppose I could," she answered, suddenly feeling way overdressed.

James smiled at her kindly.

~:~

Angela smirked to herself. Nina would take a lot of working on in order to fully control, but nonetheless it would be worth it. James was under Angela's control, and even though the demon dog would attack James, it would only cement her place under Angela's grasp.

~:~

"This is Lady Nina Deathlight," James introduced her to an older man, who looked at Nina with an expression of scorn.

"I have heard... Well, very little about you," Nina said bluntly.

"You better not be after my boy's heart," the man said, glaring at her.

"I'm quite afraid I'm a cat person, sir, not quite a dog person," Nina admitted. "But I do _like_ dogs. I don't think I could ever own one, myself. Sorry, sir."

"You're a blunt person," the old man grunted. "And also a very apologetic one. What an odd match, especially for a woman."

"Do you have something against women, sir?" Nina was quick to question.

"They're a bunch of witches, that's what women are."

Nina flinched at his words.

"They're liars and cheats. They steal and never return."

"Pop!" James said, sounding aghast. His father didn't relent.

"And you're just as bad, eh? All prim and proper. James has never brought a woman home, I forbade him to. Liars and cheats, the lot of your gender."

"I'm not a _fucking _lady, sir." Nina's voice was high and her eyes were bright. "I'm sorry, James, but I knew I shouldn't have come. Good day," she said, sniffing a bit before slipping out of the room.

"Pop!" James shouted in anger. "Nina's the nicest lady I think you would ever meet! I can't believe you'd say something like that to her!"

"Well, she cursed!"

James glared at his father. "She can curse like a sailor on a good day, Pop. I'm going to go see if she'll come back. Jeez, I can't believe you'd say that to her!"

He ran out after her.

~:~

"Nina!" Nina couldn't ignore James' desperate yells.

She turned. "What, James?" She may have acted like a child and looked like a child, but right then she detested her looks and height that made her look so young.

"My pop isn't usually like that, I swear. Please. Just one dinner. He needs to get to know you more."

Nina sniffed again. "Okay." She couldn't disappoint him.

James smiled. "Thanks!"

~:~

Nina burst into the lord's manor, shocking Ciel and Cecilia. Her clothes were soaked, her feet barefoot, and her eyes were red and face blotchy.

She took one look at everyone and fled to her room, Sebastian's eyes widening and Grace blinking.

"Was it just me or did someone make Nina cry?" Grace asked in a hushed voice... Only to stop and shiver at the menacing voice that filled the room.

"WHO MADE MY NINA-CHAN CRY?!"


	17. Some Explanations

Nina had spent the entire dinner listening to spiteful comments about women and their places in a home. About what Nina apparently was. And she was doubting herself and her gender, trying to cry as quietly as she could.

A knock came at the door.

"Nina."

Ciel's voice came from the door.

Nina sniffed, wiped her eyes, and opened the door and gave Ciel a watery smile.

"May I enter?"

Nina nodded.

~:~

Rema heard of the two men that died. An older man and Nina's apparent friend.

"If they made him cry, I'm going to slaughter them all," she growled, her eyes glowing an unnatural acid green.

"Oh, relax, dearie~" Grell said from behind her with a dazzling, shark-toothed grin. "I'm willing to bet it was the older fellow~."

"Oh?" Rema asked with a sadistic and terrifying smile. "Well, then. Let's go eat his soul."

"No, dearie~ Shinigami don't eat souls, we collect them. We send them to hell, limbo, or even heaven! I've already collected their souls, so there's no need for you to go batshit quite yet," he giggled manically.

"It's not a ghost dog," Grace announced, bursting in. "It's most likely Pluto."

Sebastian looked annoyed. "Please tell me that you're joking, sister."

"YOU CALLED ME SISTER!" Grace tackled Sebastian, who shoved her off.

"Hug me again and I'll kill you," Sebastian said, smiling fakely.

"You called me sister!" Grace didn't seemed to hear him as she stared at him with hearts in her eyes.

"This is just disturbing," sighed Madam Red. "Who, exactly, is Pluto?"

"Pluto is the leader of the demon hounds," Grace said, recovering instantly. "He's not quite a hellhound, not quite a demon hound. He's both, leader of both the hellhounds and demon hounds. He'll obey someone who is of greater status than he is, but unfortunately it has to be a demon and -"

"Demon hound?!"

There was a shocked silence as everyone had _completely _forgotten of the three _humans _in the room.

"Shit, I forgot about the humans," Grace said, mostly to herself. "Yeah, demons and angels and all sorts of supernatural creepers exist. Sebastian and I are demons, contracted to Ciel and Cecilia through what is known as a Faustian contract. This contract makes sure I get to devour Cecilia's soul as payment, but she repaid me a while back so I don't have to devour his soul. Not all demons are like that."

"Not weak, like you?" Sebastian asked with another fake smile.

"Shut up, Sebastian," Grace said coldly. "Don't pretend you don't want a different soul to devour. It's hard to resist for me, after all. I imagine it would be difficult for you, who has never restrained himself from devouring your master's souls after the contract is complete."

"That is an entirely different matter, and while I do want to, I have restrained myself with little difficulty," Sebastian returned, everyone watching the two demons like playing tennis.

"You'll find yourself snapping the more she takes Ciel's darkness away."

Sebastian's lips thinned.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed it?" Grace said, practically purring. "His darkness is leaking away with every passing moment, and you don't seem to care. Why is that, Sebastian, hmm? Why do you continue to serve him when you know that sooner or later, Ciel will no longer have the darkness you want? Will you snap and take Nina's? Or will you take Ciel's the moment the job it done, no matter how tainted it is or not?"

"Speak no other words," Sebastian said coldly. An almost tangible aura rose in the room. "I will do what I was contracted to do by the Faustian contract I made with Ciel. If he terminates the contract before the deed is done? So be it. I will simply have to make do with what I have, and he will forget about the contract and me. I will find another willing to do anything to make a deal with a demon, Araxis." The last word was muted so that the humans couldn't hear it.

"Grace," Grace countered. "Don't call me by that name. I hate it...Andramelech." Grace treated his name with the same caution.

"Hating is what a demon must do, Araxis."

"Enough!"

Both demons snapped out of their argument looking momentarily dazed.

Madam Red looked at them irritably. "Grell, would you be a dear and go see if you can find any scent of this demon dog?"

"Of course, Madam Red!" Grell beamed. "And what of Barrymore? He went out quite a while ago and hasn't returned."

"He's probably dead by now," Rema muttered. "I'll go with and check, yes?"

~:~

"So Sebastian's a demon," a stunned Finnian said in his room.

"Huh. No wonder he was so quick and pretty fussy. We must look like idiots," Bardroy said sadly.

Mey-Rin sighed. "Why were we even hired if Master has a guardian already?" Mey-Rin wondered out loud.

"We have our skill sets, and Sebastian rescued us," Finnian said stoutly. "Even if we do wreck the house on a daily basis, Master doesn't seem to care as long as we fix it up."

They nodded and agreed.

~:~

"Hey, Grell," Rema said suddenly, whirling around and facing the full-fledged shinigami. "When did you get out of whatever punishment that William guy gave you?"

~:~

"They're dead, Mr. and Mrs. Deathlight, Mr. and Mrs. Havens. Nina Deathlight and Rema Havens are dead."

Archer and Robyn Havens weren't too pleased that these two adults were lying to them. They were children, not idiots.

Archer dialed up Aaron Secura. Stupid adults! How could they think lying to a Havens child was a good idea? It really wasn't.

It hadn't been an over-eventful couple of weeks since Robyn had made the call that their sibling Rema and pseudo-sibling Nina were unconscious, Nina and Rema both bleeding. No sign of the mugger, and Archer had only seen a flash of light.

Archer had to call the other cosplayers to say that the party had been canceled due to the fact that Rema and Nina were in comas and probably weren't going to wake up.

Thankfully, they'd gotten to the hospital. There was a couple mild scares with Nina, who was far more at risk than Rema at actually dying.

"'Lo?" a sleepy voice asked roughly.

"Aaron Secura? This is Archer Havens. I'm calling to tell you that the doctors are lying about Nina and Rema being dead."

"What?! They pronounced them dead?!"

Aaron sounded wide awake.

"Yes." Archer was like Nina in the 'I'm one of the bluntest people you will ever know' way. Archer didn't ever feel guilty like Nina did when Nina lied. Archer was quiet but deadly.

Maybe because of all those Rated R movies Rema had them watch?

Not that it really mattered.

"Archer... Whatever you decide, be _careful _about it. Or get out of there, okay?"

Archer nodded. "Okay," she said.

She hung up.

"Let's go see if we can't keep tabs on Nina and Rema," Robyn suggested quietly. "Mom and Dad will probably just leave us alone."

Archer nodded. "Sounds good."

Stupid adults didn't know what was coming to them.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

**I know this chapter probably wouldn't be the best, but Sebastian's and Grace's relationship will change soon enough :D Same with Nina's and Sebastian's. It's more of a slower burn then the last one. If you want to read the crappier original version of this, then go check out this story on Quotev under the username Evelyn Skye.**

**Anyway, there's a poll up on my profile on this site. If you want another person added to the Nina/Sebastian pairing or the Rema/Grell pairing (I wrote this before I realized that Grell was into guys. Anyone who doesn't like this pairing, Rema's more into girls than guys; Grell, who likes to **_**think**_** he's a woman, is definitely attractive to her because Rema's been around him long enough to like him for both looks and personality.), then go vote... Although, the Rema/Grell poll will be open after I get 5 votes on the Sebastian/Nina one (five votes is all I'm asking, so PLEASE vote on it. Or go check it out, at least, please!). Please do not suggest William T. Spears or Undertaker unless you **_**really **_**want Nina to be paired with Undertaker. William T. Spears is already taken (sorry!).**

**One last thing... Please choose an option below that will decide how slow the 'slow burn' is.**

**Option A: Grace dies, and Undertaker reveals how powerful he is.**

**Option B: Grace dies and Undertaker severs the bond between Nina and Sebastian.**

**Option C: Grace lives, but both her and Undertaker sever the bond between Nina and Sebastian anyway to prove a point.**

**Option D: Grace fakes her death to prove something to Sebastian, and Undertaker kidnaps Nina to prove something to him.**

**Comment on the options~! Hope you choose one!**

**~angelslaugh**


	18. Meeting the Shadowhunters

"That was a quite boring case," remarked Rema on the ride home.

"Yeah," Nina said quietly.

"You okay, Nina?" Cecilia asked, tilting her head and gazing at her.

"Yes, I'm fine!" Nina said, waving her arms in front of her. "Absolutely fine!"

Rema eyed her. "You're lying. Must I go to drastic measures to get you to tell the truth?"

Rema was half-teasing.

"Thank you, Rema, but I would like to keep what is bothering me to myself at this moment," Nina said quietly, returning her gaze to the outside world and becoming quiet once more.

Cecilia sighed. "If only Madam Red were here. Then we could learn of your secret, whatever it was. She is a frightening woman. A doctor, too."

"Madam Red chose to go with Ciel to the mansion," Rema recalled, "with Grace to act as a buffer between her and Ciel should things get too bad. I am not quite sure about not having Sebastian; he is a great deterrent against thieves and the like."

"Indeed," Cecilia said with an eye roll. "Thankfully, our coachman, hired at Dogtown, is competent enough to drive us home."

"It wouldn't help if we get accosted by someone seeking revenge on the Phantomhive name," noted Nina. "Such as Mr. Damiano, the Italian man that Ciel had Sebastian kill. Or Azzuro Vanel, who was also killed by Sebastian."

"Nobody would dare harm us," Cecilia dismissed. "I'm a high-profile target, Nina here is a possibly missing princess, and, of course, Rema is an excellent fighter."

"That is __precisely __why someone would harm us," Nina pointed out delicately. "And seeing as we have only a shinigami-in-training, a girl with a contract demon, and me, with no powers or aide otherwise... We're like sitting ducks."

"I hate ducks," Cecilia muttered.

"Halt, there!"

The carriage stopped.

"I don't know why Ciel insist we go through London. My appearance at any ball would make certain that people know I am alive," Cecilia said with a sigh as the door opened.

"My ladies," a butler, wearing pristine white clothes with a sword by his side, "Her Majesty wishes your presence immediately."

Nina blinked. Her Majesty...

"...The Queen?" Cecilia asked, in a puzzled tone.

"Indeed, Lady Phantomhive."

~:~

"Miss Havens. Lady Phantomhive. And of course, little Princess Nina Deathlight."

All three bowed, noting a few other occupants.

"Ash, you may leave."

The butler in white left with an exaggerated bow.

"I have three here now that I wish for you to meet," the Queen stated, folding her hands elegantly across her lap. "William Herondale, Magnus Bane, and Charlotte Fairchild."

Nina surveyed the three others with curiosity.

"Forgive me, your majesty, but I know Magnus Bane," Cecilia announced, her voice carrying. "I know of that world. It was not a good day for me when I did so, though."

"I see," the Queen said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Then you might know of the reason I have called you here. The Clockwork beings."

"The Clockwork beings, your majesty?" Rema was being surprisingly respectful.

"Half of what I wished to speak with you about. This army, while being decomissioned as we speak, has made a dreadful impact upon London. I entrust to you three this secret in the hopes that you keep it secret."

"With all due respect, Majesty, another human entrusted with this knowledge created this clockwork army. Entrusting three is probably not a wise decision," the woman, Charlotte Fairchild, said with a frown.

"I disagree," Nina spoke up, earning looks. "We are women, and in today's society, that means we're pretty much useless... Not that I am calling you useless, your majesty," she added hastily to the queen.

The queen sounded delighted when she spoke. "Not at all. I encourage your opinions."

Nina took a deep breath.

"If someone were to hear that we had a meeting with the queen herself, with people of another world hidden in our own, they would sooner shove us into Bedlam than not, yes?"

The woman winced a bit. "I suppose you are correct. Forgive me; I was too harsh to judge and spoke too quickly."

"Not at all," Nina smiled and bowed to her and the Queen.

"The Shadow World and the normal world will eventually coexist - rather, that is my deepest hope," the Queen said with a sigh. "Now, Lady Phantomhive. My second order of business is that of slightly more urgency."

"Yes, my queen?" Cecilia asked her.

"The Vanel family wishes revenge on Ciel, or even you. It matters not to them. However, the Irish queen has given a standing death order to those who try to harm her daughter, and I second that order. Nina Deathlight, while on British soil, any who dare to harm you will be executed."

The queen's voice was steely.

Then it softened.

"You've grown, Princess Nina."

Nina was wide-eyed.

"Huh?!" she asked, shocked. "We've met?!"

The queen chuckled. "Of course. I am well acquainted with your mother. Queen Ambra Deathlight. Her youngest daughter, your sister, Anna-Marie Willow Deathlight, shall be arriving in a matter of weeks. I formally welcome you to London, Princess Deathlight."

Nina curtsied, still in shock.

~:~

"That was quite eventful," commented Cecilia. "This Shadowhunter soiree will be most... Intriguing."

"Have you sent a letter to Ciel, informing him of our rather late arrival?" Rema asked Cecilia.

"I doubt he'll care if you're there or not," was Cecilia's deadpanned response.

"Hey! That's insulting!"

Nina listened to them bicker as the Institute appeared after another bend. William stood there, getting out of a black carriage, looking quite sick.

Another woman, wearing red and having a great complexion (meaning she was possibly more obsessed with her looks than anything else), looked like she was sulking.

When the three semi-normal humans exited the other carriage, the others looked disdainful of their approach.

Until...

Nina tripped on a jagged flagstone.

"Ow," she muttered, getting up and noting her dress was ripped. "Hmm. How should I fix this?"

"Just rip it off. Not like they'll give a damn," Rema replied, tugging at the rip.

"Okay," Nina shrugged, helping rip the dress up a bit.

The underskirt was still there, making her look quite pretty even though it was the __underskirt.__

"Should I keep the fabric in case Sebastian or Grace can mend it?" Nina wondered, looking at the silk in her hands.

"Why not just force him to take you shopping and spend all of Ciel's money on clothes?" sniggered Rema, putting the fabric inside one of their suitcases.

"She's too nice," Cecilia said with a polite giggle. "Break a leg of hers and she'll apologize for it."

"Yeah, you're right," Rema nodded, going along with it. "Too nice to be a princess. From what I heard, her sister's weird."

"Hey! You've barely been out of my sight for a minute!" Nina accused.

"While that is true, I don't think it's a bad thing. How could it be when Nina is so nice?" Cecilia snorted.

"You must be exaggerating," the poshly dressed girl said in a snooty tone.

"No, we're not. Trust me. Her kindness is only unlimited if you don't try to kill me or her friends." Another young woman and young man exited the big cathedral.

The young man looked very weak, and Nina's eyes widened. Rema stiffened, and Cecilia cast her eyes down as if in shame.

"This is Theresa Gray and James Carstairs, her betrothed."

~:~

Dinner was quiet, until Jessamine spoke.

"So why did Her Majesty decide to allow you particular three in on the secret?"

"No idea," Rema said, slouching in her chair. "Perhaps it was my brilliant smile. Or the fact that Nina is a princess. Or, hey. Maybe because the Phantomhive company associates with demons and shinigami on a regular business?"

There was a stunned silence.

"Rema..." Nina's head dropped into her hands, mortified.

Cecilia sighed. "Mr. Carstairs. I apologize on behalf of my company for your condition."

A hush settled upon the table.

"Cecilia, I highly doubt it is your -"

"Lau sells opium, Rema, Nina. As he is a necessary evil, we must continue working with him. Otherwise the rats in other parts of the city will overrun Her Majesty's lovely country." Cecilia sat straighter. "I am Lady Cecilia Phantomhive, sister to the Lord Earl Ciel Phantomhive, the Queen's Guard Dog. I represent the darker side of this place. And yes, it is true that we associate with demons and shinigami on a regular business." Cecilia took off her almost unnoticeable eyepatch, and the contract branded in her eye shone. "I am currently in a Faustian contract with my demon and maid, Grace Michaelis."

"And all it cost you was your soul," guessed Jessamine.

"No," Cecilia rolled her eyes. "She wanted to be with her lover and mate, a shinigami. That's all she asked."

Rema chuckled. "I'm a shinigami-in-training." Her eyes closed, then opened. The two shades of green shone for a moment rather eerily before returning to her natural two-shaded eye colors.

"Who was the warlock who assisted in the summoning?" questioned the man with dark hair, looking back to Cecilia. William Herondale looked quite conflicted.

"Magnus Bane," Cecilia answered. "But only because I swore to repay it with my money I had on me at the time. I was quite desperate to get back to my brother."

"And you?" Charlotte turned to the quietly eating Nina. "What kind of... Creature... Are you?"

Nina choked on her chicken.

Rema pounded her back and Nina coughed, eyes watering.

"No kind, Mrs. Fairchild. I'm human. Just caught up in the middle of this because it's apparently my birthright."

"You're too young."

Nina scowled heavily.

"I'm fifteen," she pouted.

"And you look about five right now," Rema teased.

"Oh, come on," Cecilia chuckled. "She looks at least seven!"

"You guys are so mean!" Nina protested.

"You all act like children," Jessamine sniffed.

"So what?" Nina asked, tilting her head and looking honestly curious. "Is acting like a shithead something nobles and princesses __need __to do? Or can I act however childish I want?"

There was a silence.

"Hey, Nina. Say this in French. 'Forgive me; I have spoken crass words'."

_"___Pardonne-moi; Je vous ai parlé des mots grossiers."__

"Quick! Put her in the weapons vault! She's a lethal weapon in French!"

Everyone laughed at William's words.

~:~

"It was so nice to meet you ladies," Charlotte said later, as they finally left to go home to Ciel. "I do hope we meet again."

"I do, as well," Cecilia said, finishing with her eye patch. "Good day, madam."

Nina and Rema said their polite goodbyes as well.

"It really was fun," Nina added with a smile.

"Now, let's find an inn we can stay at for the day. Driver, find us an expensive inn. I shall pay for a room for you; however, I expect to see you waking us up when you're ready to leave."

Nina rolled her eyes fondly at the lady. "This was an extremely fun trip. First, the circus, then meeting the Shadowhunters... Such a good year."

"Yeah," nodded Rema. "Better than school, at least."

"Definitely."

It didn't even register to them that they'd remembered something.

~:~

The inn they had was really expensive, but Cecilia paid for three rooms. Rema had almost insisted being put with Nina, but then recalled it would look strange if the princess had to share a room.

So, Cecilia and Rema shared a room while the cab driver went to bed in his room.

Nina was alone in her room and writing; Theresa had advised her to chronicle what had happened so far and had given her an empty journal.

She set the writing utensil down, only to pause as she smelled... Something. It was a feminine scent.

She was about to stand when a hand clapped over her mouth and dragged her away. Nina's arm caught on the chair and upbended it, making it crash to the ground.

Nina fought, raking her hand against the person's cheek and hopefully drawing blood.

"Hurry up!" an Italian-accented voice snapped.

"I am trying! Girl is well-instructed in art of combat."

A blow rendered Nina's arm a little limp. But Nina used her skills she had to beat Beast, a lady well-learned in the art of combat.

This woman exceeded Beast's talents, perhaps, but this woman used by-the-book skills.

Nina didn't. Nina would fight dirty.

So she went for the places women didn't really think hurt, drew her leg up, and slammed it there.

There was an enraged squeak, and Nina dashed to the desk, pretending to look for something. Instead she shoved everything off in her 'frantic' search and left the journal there given to her by Theresa.

Another blow to her back made her legs useless. Nina still had an arm, and she made a lightning-fast decision and clawed her own cheek.

It split under her nails, and blood dripped to the carpet.

The last blow knocked her out.


End file.
